


Chill Out

by Sand_wolf579



Category: Milo Murphy's Law
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Squip, Deception, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mind Manipulation, SQUIP - Freeform, Squip!Dakota, Squip!Savannah, Supercomputer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2019-10-04 16:39:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 37,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17308115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sand_wolf579/pseuds/Sand_wolf579
Summary: "Look, a Squip is like a supercomputer implanted in your brain.  It tells you what to do, what to say.  I’m your Squip.  It’s my job to influence your behavior to be the way it should be.”Before becoming a time traveler, Cavendish had never even heard of a Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor, or 'Squip', and now he had one for a partner.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is inspired and influenced by the musical Be More Chill. It's not necessary to be familiar with the show or book before reading this, but it might make things more clear from the very start. For those who are already familiar with Be More Chill, be aware that in this story Squips can be seen and heard by everybody, not just their host, though they still only have influence over someone they're connected to.
> 
> Also, the specific inspiration behind this idea (Dakota being a Squip) comes from an animatic of the song Be More Chill Part 1 (yes, the song actually has part 1 as part of its title. Just go with it). This specific animatic, created by Youtuber Spectral-Sketch722, just so happens to have a Squip design that looks a lot like Dakota (the curly hair, shaded glasses, half closed eyes), so shout out to that creator and their video, because that's what sparked this idea in the first place.

Cavendish wrote the final word of his final essay and sighed in relief as he put his pencil down. That was it, after twenty long cycles of studying time travel, he was all done with his training. He was a time traveler now...well, not officially. All of his exams and essays needed to be graded. And then there was all of that paperwork that needed to go through, and the background checks. But other than that, he was a time traveler, at last.

Cavendish proudly stood up and handed his papers to the supervising time traveler. He knew that his work was quite a few pages longer than what they had asked for, but he believed that it was always better to be thorough. The supervisor didn't even look at the paper, she just put it on her desk. She then picked up an identification card and handed it to him.

"Congratulations, Agent Cavendish, you're a time traveler," The supervisor said boredly, as though she wasn't the least bit interested in what she was saying. Cavendish didn't care about her lack of enthusiasm, he was too excited to finally be an agent. "You are to make your way to the labs."

"Thank you," Cavendish looked at his Bureau of Time Travel card identifying him as a third-class agent. It was the lowest ranking in the bureau, but that was alright. Cavendish could make his way up the ranks. After staring at his card for a moment he looked up in slight surprise as he realized something. "Wait a moment, I thought my work needed to be assessed and-"

"It was graded in the future and they sent word back," The supervisor said in annoyance as she turned back to her own paperwork. "You've been approved, and now you need to go to the labs to get your partner."

"My partner?" Cavendish blinked in slight surprise. "Why would they be in the labs?" The agents who worked in the labs weren't field agents, they didn't leave the labs. Why would his partner be in the labs? Were they a scientist? "I'm afraid I don't understand-"

"You'll understand when you get there," The supervisor said tiredly, like she had said this same thing hundreds of times. "Now get going," She was clearly tired of all his questions, but that was alright. Cavendish was an agent now, it was his job to do what he was told without questioning his superiors. He just had to consider this as another test.

"Of course," Cavendish tipped his hat in appreciation and left the room. He couldn't stop grinning broadly. This was the proudest moment of his life. He finally had a chance to prove himself, to save the world. Show others just how great he could be.

But first, he needed to meet his new partner.

Cavendish walked, head held high, towards the labs. He may not know who he was about to meet, but he couldn't wait to get started.

Cavendish made his way to the labs, or at least tried to. Headquarters was a very large place, and while Cavendish had been in training he hadn't gotten the chance to see very much of it. He'd memorized the maps, but everything looked different in real life. Cavendish took a wrong turn at one point, and then just got even more lost as he tried to find his way again.

After nearly half an hour of wandering aimlessly around headquarters Cavendish finally found his way to the labs. Deep down he knew that he had just gotten lucky, to have gotten so lost that he ended up in the very place that he had been trying to get to, but he still felt a sense of accomplishment.

Cavendish opened the door to the lab and saw all of the other new agents who had finished their essays before him, as well as another man that he had never seen before waiting impatiently for something, possibly him. Cavendish closed the door behind him and sheepishly made his way to join the other new agents.

"I still don't understand why we have to be here," The man said moodily. It seemed like the man was addressing them, but he was glaring to his side. "We're first-class agents, it shouldn't be our job to teach these amateurs,"

"One, we're not teaching them," Cavendish jumped, startled, when a finely dressed young woman seemed to appear out of nowhere. "We're introducing them to their partners, that's it. Two, it is your job to do what your told."

"But it's so degrading," The man practically whined.

"Stop," The young woman said, and Cavendish could hear a kind of power in her words. The other man's mouth snapped closed. He glared fiercely at the young woman, whose brown eyes seemed to flash bright purple for a moment. "What have I told you about complaining? If you want people to take you seriously, you need to act like somebody worth respecting."

The two of them stared at each other for a few tense moments before the young woman's eyes went back to their regular brown. The man crossed his arms. "You know I hate it when you do that."

"I'll stop as soon as you stop doing things wrong." The woman said. She turned towards Cavendish and the other agents, an impatient but not unkind look on her face. "You're the last new agent here."

"Well, I got lost," Cavendish said sheepishly. "And it took me longer than expected to write my essay." He couldn't help but be intimidated by this young woman, it felt as though she was looking into his very mind. He had to try very hard to not let his slight fear show. "I wanted to be sure to write as much as I could."

The other man huffed in annoyance "Time travelers need to know how to work quickly." The young woman gave the man a quick look, and he reluctantly backed down.

"It's also important for a time traveler to be thorough," She turned to Cavendish and held her hand out to him. "They call me Savannah," She gestured to the man close to her. "That is the partner I'm stuck with, Brick."

"Balthazar Cavendish," He took Savannah's hand and shook it. "So, uh, may I ask what we're all doing here?"

Savannah smirked and nodded to Brick, who rolled his eyes, at least, he began to. He stopped mid eyeroll, unfolded his arms, and stood up straight. "You're here to get your partners." Brick turned and grabbed a box that looked like a glorified shoebox. Cavendish didn't know why the B.o.T.T. had a box like this, but he believed that he was about to find out.

Brick opened the box and approached the new agents, showing them the contents inside. Cavendish raised a confused eyebrow when he saw that the box was full of gray, oblong pills.

"What are those?" Cavendish asked, and one glance confirmed that the other new agents were as confused as he was.

"They are Super Quantum Unit Intel Processors, otherwise known as a Squip." Brick said as he looked over at Savannah. "Each of you will have a one"

"But what are they?" Cavendish asked.

Brick let out a slow sigh. "Look, whatever I tell you, you won't believe me, so just take the pill and do what you're told."

"Trust me," Savannah looked at Cavendish, her eyes flashing purple again. "Everything will make sense once you have your Squip."

"And you can't be an agent unless you have one," Brick picked up a pill and shoved it into Cavendish's hand. "So take the stupid pill." Brick moved on to hand out pills to the other agents. Cavendish eyed it warily, but when he saw the others taking it, he reluctantly put it in his mouth and swallowed it. The pill tasted like nothing, and Cavendish didn't feel any effects, good or bad, and pills in the future had a tendency to work immediately, so he was a little confused.

"What...was that supposed to do something?" Cavendish asked.

"The Squip has to be activated." Savannah said. She handed him a green bottle of soda. "Drink this, and you'll understand everything."

Cavendish accepted the bottle and examined it. The bottle didn't seem to be tampered with. And though Cavendish rarely drank soda, he recognized the brand. It was something that had been really popular in the past. He opened the lid of the soda and reluctantly took a sip. He barely resisted the urge to spit the small amount of soda out. It was much too sweet for his tastes. Cavendish didn't want to take more than was necessary, and when he put the lid back on the soda and Savannah gave him a small nod, he knew that the small sip had been enough.

Once they all had drank the soda, Savannah muttered something under her breath. Her eyes flashed purple again, and Cavendish began to wonder what it meant. The strange coloring was gone just as suddenly as it had shown up. "Your initiation is done, and soon all of you will be given your assignments."

"Unfortunately, your Squips are connected to mine," Brick glared in annoyance at Savannah. "If you absolutely need help, they can contact each other...please don't need help." With those last words, Brick and Savannah left the lab. Cavendish and the other new agents exchanged confused glances. They hadn't been assigned their partners. They had just been given a strange pill and some soda.

"Well, this has been an odd and stressful day," Cavendish straightened his vest. "I don't know about you lot, but I'm going to go prepare for my first assignment." He tipped his hat at his fellow agents and turned sharply to follow Brick and Savannah's lead. Just as he put his hand on the doorknob he felt a pain in his head that was so sudden and sharp that he yelled out in pain and clutched at his forehead.

"Stay," A voice that he had never heard before said clearly, almost right in his ear. He turned and didn't see anybody there, and none of the other new agents were even paying him any mind. After a moment Cavendish shrugged and walked out the door. The second he was back in the hallway, his legs gave out slightly.

Cavendish put a hand against the wall to steady himself. He didn't know what had happened to his legs so suddenly. It was as though they just decided to stop working right. Cavendish's legs weren't in pain or numb, they just weren't doing what he wanted them to do. He hoped that this was just temporary, because he didn't know what he would do if this sudden paralysis was a permanent thing.

After nearly five minutes of his legs betraying him, the door to the labs opened and the rest of the new agents came out, talking casually with each other. They walked right past him and went down the hall in the way opposite of where he had been planning on going himself.

"They look like they're having fun," That same voice that he had heard before seemed to say in his head. "Why don't you see what they're talking about? You might make some friends." Just as suddenly as Cavendish's legs had worked up, they started working again. Cavendish straightened and frowned when he felt a strong urge to follow the other agents.

"I'm not here to make friends," Cavendish said to himself. He adjusted his hat and made his way down the hall, away from the others. The pain in his head from earlier returned, even more fiercely than before.

"Really, Cavendish?" He jumped when he felt a touch on his arm that shocked him slightly. He turned to see a younger, shorter man with unkempt hair and a mischievous smirk standing next to him when he certainly hadn't been there before. "You've finally become an agent, and you think the best thing to do is study some more? You should hang out with the other agents. Having friends in the bureau could come in handy someday."

"I don't need friends," Cavendish huffed. "And I don't remember asking for you opinion." He eyed the other man's casual clothing and darkened glasses. He certainly didn't look like an agent. "Who are you, anyways?"

The younger man chuckled in amusement. "Yeah, sorry, I guess you're not too trusting of strangers, are you? Don't worry, we'll fix that."

Cavendish raised his eyebrows. "Excuse me?" Cavendish wasn't used to being spoken to so casually, especially not by somebody who was a complete stranger.

The younger man grinned, and Cavendish noticed for the first time that one of his eyes were brown, and the other was a shade of orange that was even brighter than the clothing that he wore. Cavendish was unnerved to see what looked like a literal spark in the orange eye, giving it an almost glowing effect. "It's good to meet you, Balthazar Cavendish. I'm your Squip."

Cavendish felt suddenly ill as he looked at the stranger in front of him. "I'm sorry, you're my...what?"

"Squip," The man, Squip, whatever he was, said. "You know, a Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor."

"That...that pill they gave me," Cavendish said breathlessly while he tried to work through what he was hearing, what he was thinking. "What...what is it? What are you?"

The younger man sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "Man, you can't just go around asking people what they are. But you know what? You're freaked out, I get it, so I'll give it a pass this time."

"What are you talking about?" Cavendish took a step away from the so-called Squip. "Would you begin explaining things?"

The Squip frowned and his orange eye flashed. Cavendish's breath caught in his throat and his hair stood on end. "I'll explain things just as soon as you let me, so would you just be quiet for a minute?"

Cavendish tried to open his mouth, but found himself unable to. So he just bit the inside of his cheek and nodded. The Squip nodded. "Great, thanks. Look, a Squip is like a supercomputer implanted in your brain. It tells you what to do, what to say. I'm your Squip. It's my job to influence your behavior to be the way it should be." When his words were out the Squip relaxed, and Cavendish felt the force that was keeping him silent disappear.

"You...did you just silence me?" Cavendish didn't know whether to be afraid, furious, or impressed. This was some advanced technology, even for the future.

"I didn't want to, but it's not like you left me much of a choice." The Squip shrugged, and Cavendish marveled at the fact that this strange man was actually a supercomputer. "I had to get you to listen to me somehow."

"Well, next time I would appreciate it if you would find another way of being heard," Cavendish crossed his arms indignantly. "I do not like being controlled."

The orange eye flashed, and between this Squip and Savannah, who, it was clear now, was a Squip herself, Cavendish figured that it was something that happened when they were using their powers. "Alright, noted." The Squip's colored eye dimmed slightly. "Well, we've got to figure something out, because the two of us are stuck with each other, so we've got to be able to work together."

Cavendish sighed and eyed the Squip warily. "If you don't try to control my actions anymore, I'll try harder to hear what you have to say."

"You can't just hear what I say," The Squip said unexpectedly sternly. "You have to listen."

"I'll do my best," Cavendish said somewhat reluctantly. The Squip didn't look like the kind of person he would normally listen to, but if it meant keeping his free will, he would give it a try. "So, you're supposed to be my partner?" Cavendish didn't understand how, with all of the training and studying he had gone through, he hadn't known that. It seemed like something worth mentioning at least once.

"All time travelers have a Squip," The young man walked past Cavendish and began to make his way down the hallway. He looked back and gestured for Cavendish to follow him, which he was more than happy to do so. "All of your assignments, the information of the time period you're sent to, all of that's going to go through me. You can think of me as a kind of guide to the past or something. A walking history book."

Cavendish blinked. He still didn't know how he felt about having a computer in his mind, but so far it seemed like the Squip could be rather useful. He wasn't too fond of the Squip's attitude and personality, but for all he knew the Squip would only be in this form and behave this way for a short time, like some sort of phase.

"Well, what am I supposed to call you?" Cavendish asked. "Because I'm not just going to call you Squip."

The other man shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me what I'm called. Why don't you choose something?"

Cavendish thought for a moment. He wasn't very good at this kind of thing, but he refused to use a word as ridiculous as 'Squip' to refer to his partner. "What about...Vinnie Dakota?"

"Vinnie Dakota," The Squip tested out the name and nodded. "I'm guessing Vinnie is short for Vincent, like your least favorite cousin? And Dakota, meaning North Dakota, where you were raised and couldn't wait to get away from?"

Cavendish flinched slightly. "How did you-?"

"I told you, I'm a super computer in your mind. I've got access to all kinds of memories. Whatever you know, I know, and more." The Squip reminded him. "And don't worry, I don't mind being named after two things you hate." And, strangely enough, Cavendish felt sure that the Squip meant that. He wondered if the Squip could be insulted by anything? Because it may look and act fairly human, but it was still a supercomputer.

"Alright then, Vinnie Dakota it is." Cavendish smiled at his new partner. Now that he had a name to attach to the face, it all felt more real. "I look forward to working with you."

"Hey, man, me too," Dakota half grinned and half smirked. His orange eye sparked again. Cavendish was getting increasingly uneasy with the oddly colored eye.

"I...excuse me, but is it possible for you to…" Cavendish trailed off and gestured to his own eye.

Dakota blinked and brought a hand to his orange eye. "Oh, yeah, that'll probably draw attention, won't it?" Dakota chuckled and pulled what looked like a pair of dark glasses out of his pocket. "Most Squips' eyes look identical, and they're usually a more, you know, normal color. But I...well…this will have to be good enough." Dakota put on the glasses. Cavendish could still see Dakota's eyes, but the shading made them both appear to be pretty much the same. "Is this better?"

"Much better," Cavendish said in relief. "Thank you,"

"No problem," Dakota shrugged and held out a hand with a grin. "It's my job to help you, after all, right?"

Cavendish took Dakota's hand without the smallest bit of hesitation. "Right," Dakota's hand felt pretty much like human flesh, but it was just different enough to remind Cavendish that Dakota was something more than human. "Something tells me this is going to be an interesting partnership."

"Yeah," Dakota agreed, a somewhat odd tone to his voice. "Interesting."


	2. Chapter 2

Dakota crossed his legs and rocked slightly. Anybody watching him would think that he was bored, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Who could be bored watching Cavendish pace around the bureau’s library like a maniac?

“I told you, you’re not going to find anything.” Dakota said, though he couldn’t help but be amused. Cavendish huffed and stack of books on the table that Dakota was sitting on. “Squips are probably the most well-kept secret that the Time Bureau has. You’re not going to find any information in those books.”

“There has to be something,” Cavendish muttered irritably. He began flipping through the books so quickly that even if there was any information about Squips in there, it would be a wonder if he found anything at all. “I refuse to believe that an organization as thorough as B.o.T.T. has zero information available on the supercomputers that they implant into the minds of their agents.”

“You know what? Here’s a thought,” Dakota uncrossed his legs and let them dangle over the edge. “If you have any questions about your supercomputer, why don’t you just ask? I’m right here.”

“I would like an unbiased opinion.” Cavendish glared at Dakota, as though he expected to be lied to.

Dakota grinned slightly in amusement. “You know, I’m programmed to have access to all of B.o.T.T.’s databases. You’re looking in the bureau’s library. Everything in here is in me, plus more.”

“Would you kindly get to the point?” Cavendish snapped. “If not, I would appreciate it if you would keep quiet and let me work.”

Dakota eyed Cavendish for a moment before he shrugged and leaned back. Cavendish went back to work, and Dakota let him. He knew that Cavendish wasn’t going to find anything, and he’d said as much. There wasn’t much more that he could do.

Actually, that wasn’t quite true. Dakota knew perfectly well that he could force Cavendish to do anything that he wanted, but he would rather not. Cavendish had made it clear how he felt about Dakota taking control of his body. Cavendish may not be listening to Dakota, but that didn’t mean that he would break his end of the deal. Dakota may have only been Cavendish’s Squip for a few hours, but he knew the man better than anybody. Dakota knew that Cavendish liked to learn and do things for himself, and that if the man was influenced in any way, he would just resist until he was further away from doing what he was supposed to do than before. Dakota had to work with Cavendish’s needs and personality, and if that meant letting him waste his time looking for information that Dakota could easily give to him, so be it. Dakota could wait.

Besides, watching Cavendish get so flustered about something so silly was kind of fun.

Cavendish spent the next hour looking for information about Squips. When he decided that the books that he had grabbed didn’t have the information he was looking for, he went to grab some more. When it didn’t seem like the books were giving him anything useful, Cavendish searched on the computer databases, and he even asked the librarian for help. He didn’t find anything, just like Dakota knew he wouldn’t.

Cavendish probably could have gone on like this all day, but Dakota couldn’t let him do that. He was an official time traveler now, and he had to focus on his work. Cavendish hadn’t been given his first assignment yet, but Dakota knew that it was pending and could happen any second.

Dakota kept one eye on Cavendish, and one eye on the B.o.T.T.’s databases. He only had access to the information that was allowed to him, but fortunately for him that included the status of the other brand new agents. For awhile, all of their assignments were also ‘pending’, but one by one their status’ changed to ‘classified’. Dakota couldn’t see what specific assignments were unless he was given specific permission, but at least he knew that they had an been given their missions. Soon, it would be Cavendish’s turn, and he needed to be ready for it. 

After half of the other new agents statuses had been changed to ‘classified’, Dakota knew that it was time for them to change things up.

“Alright, Cav, as much fun as this has been, you’re really not getting anywhere with this.” Dakota jumped off the desk and closed the book that Cavendish was browsing. “Mr. Block’s going to be calling you up soon.”

“I can’t believe that there is nothing here.” Cavendish pushed the books away in frustration. He got to his feet and began to pace around irritably. “How can they not have any information about Squips?”

“I tried to tell you, we have loads of information,” Dakota followed behind Cavendish. “You just have to ask the right people.”

“The right people...of course!” Cavendish stopped so suddenly that Dakota walked right into him. Cavendish turned and grabbed onto Dakota’s upper arms. “Brick and Savannah, they told us that we could go to them if we had any questions.”

“Brick and Savannah?” Dakota concentrated as he searched for information about those two. Brick, time traveler first class, and his Squip, known by the name Savannah. Dakota wouldn’t normally be able to find any information on first class agents, but Brick and Savannah were listed as their mentors. All brand new agents have upper agents as mentors, at least until they were assigned to their first mission. Technically, because Cavendish hadn’t been given his first mission, Dakota still had access to Brick and Savannah’s information, including their current location.

“Alright, let’s go.” Dakota took Cavendish’s hand and dragged him along. If they were going to talk to Brick and Savannah, it had to happen before Mr. Block decided to meet with them.

“Wha-Dakota?” Cavendish stammered slightly as Dakota pulled him along. “Where are we going?”

“To talk to Brick and Savannah,” Dakota said. “They’re in the cafeteria.”

“H-how do you know that?” Cavendish asked somewhat nervously. Dakota slowed down and let go of Cavendish’s hand. He remembered that Cavendish didn’t like not feeling in control. It wouldn’t do either of them any good if Cavendish got all worked up before talking to his superiors, and then their boss.

“I’m a supercomputer, remember?” Dakota reminded him. Cavendish’s bewildered expression told Dakota that he had, in fact, forgotten. Or, to be more accurate, Cavendish had tried to forget, because it was something that he was unfamiliar with. Cavendish just couldn’t comprehend that somebody who looked or acted like Dakota could be a supercomputer, so he chose to pretend that wasn’t the case.

Dakota didn’t know if this would be a problem in the future, so he left it alone, at least for now.

The library wasn’t all that far from the cafeteria, so they got there within just a few minutes. The room was crowded, but Dakota was quickly able to point out Brick and Savannah’s location, hidden back in a corner. Cavendish took a deep breath and straightened his hat, as well as his jacket. Cavendish confidently made his way over, and Dakota followed just behind him.

“Brick, Savannah, how are you?” Cavendish addressed the two of them respectfully. He even tipped his hat a little bit to them. Dakota didn’t say anything, he just stayed behind Cavendish and kept his hands in his pockets. 

Brick eyed Cavendish critically. “Who are you?” The man had no patience. The second that the words came out of his mouth Brick twitched and let out a small yelp of pain. Cavendish’s eyes widened and he stepped back in alarm. Dakota didn’t react at all. Brick turned to glare at his partner, whose eyes had flashed bright purple. “Would you stop that?!”

“Balthazar Cavendish, third class time traveler,” Savannah said coldly. “You met him a few hours ago. And his Squip, registered as Vinnie Dakota. You need to be familiar with all agents, including the rookies.”

“Alright, I’ll work on it,” Brick said. He sounded reluctant, but still sincere. Savannah was the kind of Squip who wasn’t afraid to shock you if you did something wrong when you should know better. Brick turned back to Cavendish. “What do you want?”

“Pardon my intrusion,” Cavendish said. “I just...I’m sorry, would you mind telling me what just happened to you?”

“Oh, that was Savannah’s doing,” Dakota cut in. “Squips sometimes shock their hosts to encourage a behavioral change.”

“Shock?” Cavendish’s eyes were wide with horror. “What kind of shock?”

Dakota shrugged and a moment later Cavendish flinched and yelped in pain as a small electric shock coursed through his veins. “Like that. Nothing too bad.”

“Easy for you to say on that side of the shock,” Cavendish crossed his arms and glared at Dakota. He was doing his best to be annoyed, but Dakota could see fear in his eyes. Cavendish was not responding well to being shocked. Dakota filed away that information, right next to that knowledge about Cavendish’s distrust of being controlled. “Now if you don’t mind, I was having a private conversation with Brick.” Just Brick, not Savannah. Cavendish didn’t just have a hard time with Dakota, but with Squips in general. Maybe having a private conversation with Brick would do Cavendish some good and get him to relax about having a Squip.

“Hey, you don’t have to tell me twice, I know when I’m not wanted.” Dakota raised his hands defensively. He turned towards Savannah. “Say, you wanna go somewhere more, I don’t know, private?” Dakota raised his eyebrows suggestively, just for emphasis, though he didn’t really mean it. He was just messing around.

Dakota saw Cavendish roll his eyes at his words. Brick looked stunned and somewhat disgusted. Savannah just seemed somewhat intrigued. The two of them stared at each other, silently communicating with each other in a type of battle of wills. Finally Savannah sighed nodded ever so slightly. That was good enough of a response for Dakota.

“Come on,” Dakota was tempted to take Savannah’s hand to pull her along, but he knew that wouldn’t be a very good idea, so he just made his way to an empty corner of the room and trusted that she would follow him.

Once the two of them were alone Savannah crossed her arms and eyed Dakota critically, like she was trying to study him. “Alright, what’s your deal?”

Dakota blinked, slightly thrown off. “What do you mean?”

“You behave differently than any other Squip I’ve met,” Savannah said, and she was definitely studying him. “You’ve only just formed, and you already show such a strong personality. Why is that?”

“Eh, I don’t know,” Dakota shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. “It’s just the way I am, I guess. It drives Cavendish nuts.”

Savannah was silent for a moment. “Why did you choose that form?”

Dakota looked down at himself, and then he looked at her. “I don’t know, why did you choose your form?”

“Brick is too sure of himself. Being forced to listen to somebody that looks like this is humbling for him.” Savannah said. She didn’t say if it was the fact that she showed herself as a woman, or because her skin appeared darker, but it didn’t really matter. Just so long as it worked for her and Brick.

“It’s kinda the same thing for me and Cavendish,” Dakota said. “Except it’s also kinda the opposite. Cavendish works best when he feels like he’s in control. I thought he would feel better about working with a supercomputer partner if I looked less professional, so he would still feel in charge.”

Savannah raised an eyebrow at him. “Cavendish told you this?”

“Not really, it’s just something that I know,” Dakota said. He had assumed that it was something that all Squips could do, have access to the thoughts and memories of their hosts, but Savannah’s stunned expression told him otherwise. “Is that weird?”

“It’s...unusual,” Savannah said slowly. “But not unheard of.” She stepped closer to Dakota and her dark eyes turned to that purple color. Dakota instinctively responded by having his orange eye spark and glow brighter, though it was hidden behind his sunglasses. “Let me see your eyes.”

Dakota obeyed her request without a second thought. He slipped the glasses off and met her gaze as she analyzed him. He knew that he shouldn’t be all that surprised by this. Squips’ eyes were supposed to look identical to each other. They were both a normal color unless the Squip was using their databases, in which case they would begin to glow. Dakota’s eyes weren’t like that. One was brown, even when he was searching through databases, and the other was an electric orange, even when he wasn’t doing anything. It was an unusual trait amongst Squips.

“There must be a malfunction in your core wiring.” Savannah said evenly, emotionlessly. Dakota couldn’t help but flinch slightly and frown at her observation, which Savannah didn’t fail to notice. “And you’re showing more of an emotional response than is normal for a Squip.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Dakota asked, because he didn’t know. He didn’t think it was, but if his coding was so much different than that of other Squips, than how could he know if his thoughts were what they should be?

“I’m not sure,” Savannah admitted. She smiled slightly, though Dakota almost wished she would go back to being emotionlessly broody, because that smile made him feel extremely uneasy. “I’m curious about the state of your defective systems. Up, up, down, down, left, right, A.”

Dakota flinched slightly as he felt Savannah’s systems flood over his own. The code she had said was a way for Squips to connect to or override each other. It felt like somebody was invading his mind, forcing themselves into places that they weren’t welcome. Dakota scowled and mentally pushed Savannah out of his mind, though he went ahead and kept the connection between them intact. 

Savannah staggered back slightly like she had been physically pushed. Savannah’s eyes became blank, completely void of life. Dakota winced and cautiously stepped towards Savannah. She was completely still and unresponsive for a moment. Dakota was starting to worry that he had done some permanent damage somehow when Savannah’s eyes sparked and she came back online.

“You doing okay there?” Dakota asked. Savannah blinked, still somewhat dazed, but then turned towards him, her eyes set in a harsh glare.

“What did you do?” Savannah asked coldly.

“I don’t know, I swear,” Dakota said honestly. “I just wanted you out of my head.”

“You overrode my systems,” Savannah said. Dakota expected her to be angry, but she sounded more fascinated than upset. Part of him would prefer that she was mad at him, because he didn’t know what to expect from her now. “There must be a glitch in your systems that strengthens your power level.”

“Hey, do you think maybe we can not use those words like glitch, or defective, or malfunction?” Dakota asked. “It makes me feel like there’s something wrong with me.”

“That’s because there is,” Savannah said bluntly. Dakota sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. That was what he was worried she would say. “I want to keep an eye on your systems, which is why I made a connection between us. If you find any new signs of your faulty wirings, I want to be the first to hear of them.” Dakota wondered just how many different ways Savannah could say that he wasn’t programmed right.

“Yeah, got it,” Dakota nodded. He agreed partly because he was a bit curious about what was going on with his systems, and partly because he wanted to get Savannah off his back. He wanted to find a way to get out of this conversation before Savannah decided to dissect him completely. Dakota was given such an out when he got an alert that he and Cavendish had to go see Mr. Block now.

“Hey, Cavendish!” Dakota turned away from Savannah to face his partner. “We’ve gotta go get our assignment now.”

“Yes, yes, alright,” Cavendish finished up his conversation with Brick. Dakota put his sunglasses back on and went to join Cavendish. “Let’s be off.” Dakota had no idea if Cavendish had actually learned what he wanted to from Brick, but he knew that Cavendish was far too excited about being given his new assignment. Nothing was going to keep him from his mission, not even his own uncertainties.

Dakota and Cavendish said their goodbyes to Brick and Savannah and made their way to Mr. Block’s office. They would be given the majority of their assignments through technological means, but Mr. Block liked to talk to the new agents in person.

“So, how did you talk with Brick go?” Dakota asked.

“It went decently enough,” Cavendish said stiffly. “I do hope that you don’t resort to shocking or controlling me the way that Savannah does to Brick.”

Dakota thought about it for a moment before he shrugged. “Nah, that’s not really my style.” He wondered if Savannah would see his reluctance to shock his partner when necessary as another sign that he was a glitchy Squip. She probably would.

“Well, that’s a relief.” Cavendish visibly relaxed. “What about you? How did your talk with Savannah go?”

“It was okay,” Dakota said, though he felt thrown off about it. “I definitely have a lot to think about now.”

I believe that is true for both of us.” Cavendish said. Dakota didn’t think that either of them was actually ready for this assignment. He didn’t say anything about it, because he knew how much Cavendish wanted this. Dakota just hoped that they were given a simple assignment to start off with, that they would have time to get used to being time travelers before they were really thrown in the deep end.


	3. Chapter 3

Cavendish had spent so much time preparing to be a time traveler. He had spent countless hours studying and preparing to become an agent, and he had hoped that it would all be worth it in the end. Now he had finally become an agent, and the first assignment that he had been given was to prevent pistachios from becoming extinct in the future. 

As if the assignment hadn’t been humiliating and degrading enough, they had been given that same assignment a dozen times in a row. It was surprisingly difficult to keep pistachios safe. It was supposed to be a simple job. Go in, keep the pistachios from being eaten by woodpeckers, and finish in time to pick up some nachos for dinner (Cavendish was not in the mood for nachos, but Dakota insisted that he needed to eat, and he seemed to think that a variety of food would be good for him, no matter how unhealthy that variety may be).

It shouldn’t be this hard for them to accomplish, and yet time after time their assignment went wrong in the most preposterous ways. It was absolutely infuriating. It was as though the universe was working against them. Cavendish had known that being a time traveler wouldn’t be easy, but if he’s going to be struggling with an assignment, then couldn’t it be something a little more heroic? Or, at the very least, couldn’t he work with a partner who was a little less...Dakota?

“This is absurd,” Cavendish grumbled as he aggressively pushed open the door to their one room apartment. He tossed his hat on the desk and ran a hand through his hair.

“Tell me about it,” Dakota was much more calm about their failed mission, which did nothing to make Cavendish feel better. Dakota closed the door behind them. “Who knew that llamas liked pistachio gelatin so much?”

“Well, I would think that this is the kind of information that a super computer would have access to,” Cavendish said. He glared at his partner bitterly. “If you can’t do something as simple as retrieve information, then what good are you to me?”

Dakota had looked completely uncaring up to this point, but at Cavendish’s words his eyes sparked so intensely that it could be seen even behind the darkened sunglasses. Cavendish couldn’t help but flinch when Dakota glared at him. He felt shivers down his spine, though he didn’t know if it was because of his own mind, or if Dakota was manipulating him somehow. He hated how he could never tell.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Dakota crossed his arms, and even though he was rather short compared to Cavendish, and wasn’t the least bit intimidating, Cavendish found himself cowering slightly under his gaze. “It’s time me and you had a talk. What’s your problem with me?”

“My problem?” Cavendish stared at Dakota in shock before he found himself getting frustrated all over again. “My problem is that you don’t contribute anything to this partnership. You goof off during assignments. You don’t take our work seriously. You don’t behave as a supercomputer should.”

“There it is,” Dakota threw his arms in the air. “Let me ask you something, Cav. If I wasn’t a supercomputer, if I was just an ordinary person like you are, would you still think that?”

Cavendish blinked and just stared at Dakota. “I-I’m not entirely sure what you’re asking.”

Dakota sighed. “Look, what I’m asking is if it’s actually my attitude that is bugging you this much, or if you’re just mad that I’m not what you think a Squip should be like.”

Cavendish frowned and considered Dakota’s question. “Why do you sound so upset about this?” Cavendish thought that Dakota was just a computer. A ridiculous, unbelievable, very human-like computer, but still just a program. Software wasn’t supposed to have feelings.

“Well, because if you really can’t work with my attitude, I can work on that,” Dakota said sincerely. “But I don’t think I’ll ever be a Squip like Savannah is.”

“What do you mean?” Cavendish furrowed his brow. Cavendish had always had a hard time understanding people, but even just based on his abysmal experience, Dakota was a complete mystery to him. Cavendish usually slowly began to understand people after being around them for extended periods of time, but the opposite seemed to be true with Dakota. Every single day Cavendish became more and more confused about the enigma that was Vinnie Dakota. Cavendish probably knew even less about Dakota than he did when they had first met.

Dakota tensed and Cavendish felt a small spark at the back of his neck. It wasn’t bad enough to really cause him pain, or even discomfort, it was just a surprise. Dakota took off his sunglasses, showing off his different colored eyes. “You remember how I told you that most Squips have matching eyes?” Cavendish nodded. He did remember that being brought up.

“Well, it turns out that my eyes being like this is a sign that there’s something weird with my programming.” Dakota shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. His demeanor implied that he felt extremely casual and normal about the conversation, but Dakota’s tone was much too guarded for Cavendish to believe that he was completely comfortable with this conversation. “I’m not a normal Squip.”

“You...you’re not?” Cavendish stared at Dakota in shock. He didn’t know why he was so surprised. He barely knew Savannah, but his conversation with Brick that first day had left him feeling cautious about working with a Squip. According to Brick, Squips were all controlling, manipulative, and completely focused on the task at hand. Because they weren’t human, they weren’t afraid to cause some pain or discomfort to get what they wanted. Dakota didn’t seem to be anything like that. At first Cavendish had thought that it was just another manipulation tactic, that Dakota was deceiving him and trying to get him to put his guard down, but now he considered the possibility that Dakota’s behavior wasn’t that much of an act at all. “What’s the nature of your malfunction?”

Dakota flinched again, and Cavendish felt another little shock. Cavendish felt himself get angry, but Dakota spoke up before he could express that anger. “Sorry, it’s a reflex.” 

“How in the world is shocking people a reflex?” Cavendish asked, more out of confusion than anger.

“Well, uh, it’s kinda like when you’re holding someone’s hand and maybe you get angry and squeeze their hand,” Dakota said. “You’re not trying to hurt them, but it just happens because your reflex takes over, you know?”

“No, not really,” Cavendish said honestly. He couldn’t relate to the experience, but he thought that he had understood Dakota’s words at least a bit. “But you didn’t do it on purpose?”

“Yeah, no, it was a complete accident.” Dakota said. “I’ll work on not letting it happen again.”

“In that case, I suppose I can try not to say things that will get you defensive like this,” Cavendish said. “What were you so upset about anyways? I didn’t even know that Squips could get upset at all.”

“Yeah, well, apparently that’s part of what’s wrong with me,” Dakota said. “I have feelings, a lot like a human does, and apparently that’s not something that Squips should have.”

Cavendish frowned in confusion. “I don’t completely understand how having emotions means that there’s something wrong with you.”

“It just makes me different from other Squips,” Dakota said. “Savannah’s pretty sure there’s more wrong with me than just feelings though. She wants me to keep her updated about any abnormalities I notice about me.” Dakota didn’t sound too pleased about this, and Cavendish found that he wasn’t too happy about it either.

“I honestly don’t believe that you are any of Savannah’s business,” Cavendish crossed his arms, already planning the ways that he would tell Savannah off. It was so odd how defensive he was getting for Dakota’s sake when he had been so angry at him just a few moments ago. “I know it’s not any of my business either, but if you find more, well, abnormalities, I would greatly appreciate it if you would share them with me.”

Dakota eyed Cavendish warily before he grinned in a friendly way. “Yeah, I can do that. We’re partners. We need to know these things about each other.”

“Indeed,” Cavendish agreed.

“And you know, Cav, when I say we’re partners, I mean that we’re equals.” Dakota said seriously. “I don’t want you to go around thinking you’re better than me, or that I’m better than you. We’re just partners. Every success and every failure is both of our responsibilities.”

“Yes, of course,” Cavendish said somewhat sheepishly. He recognized how unfair he had been towards Dakota. He had just been expecting more than Dakota could give. Cavendish had wanted Dakota to be someone who would fit in with other humans, which was something that didn’t come naturally to Dakota. At the same time though Cavendish had expected Dakota to be a robot-like, all powerful, all knowing supercomputer that never made mistakes, and that just wasn’t what Dakota was. Dakota wasn’t a perfect human, and he wasn’t a perfect Squip. He was just Dakota, and that probably wasn’t going to change any time soon.

Cavendish couldn’t make any guarantees that he would be more patient with Dakota’s antics, but he would probably be more understanding, and he would certainly try his best.

“Just for the record, Dakota, I honestly prefer your current state of being,” Cavendish admitted. “I don’t think I would much enjoy working with an entirely functional and proper Squip. So if I’m going to be working with a supercomputer, I’m glad that it’s at least someone like you.” Cavendish felt foolish for being so sentimental, but Dakota’s broad grin told him that the sentimentality was appreciated.

“Aw, you do like me.” Dakota teased in a singsong voice.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Cavendish scoffed. “Now, come on, we’d best get some rest before we get assigned to protect a particular pistachio plant...again. Cavendish had no idea when the nature of their missions would change, and that still bothered him, but it was good to know that their working relationship would likely improve from this point on.

And who knew? Perhaps when Cavendish and Dakota figured out how to work together they would finally be able to complete their mission. Cavendish didn’t know how likely this possibility was, but it was nice to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was shorter than the others have been so far, and likely will be from this point on, but I have a very good reason for that...I have no idea how to write Cavendish and Dakota back when they didn't get along with each other (back during the early episodes of the show. Cavendish was so much harsher to Dakota, who was even less helpful during their assignments). I felt like I needed this chapter, to show that they hadn't really gotten along, but now they will, but there was only so much that I could figure out how to write with that.
> 
> Next chapter we'll be back to your regularly scheduled 'Dakota does everything he possibly can for Cavendish's sake' kind of chapter. By the way, because of the nature of this story, (Dakota being a supercomputer) Dakota won't be going back in time hundreds of times to prevent Cavendish's death. It just wouldn't work with this story, because if Cavendish dies in any time period, Dakota would disappear, and that would make it impossible for him to go back in time to prevent the death from happening in the first place.
> 
> Don't worry though, I do have plans as to what Dakota does for Cavendish, and by the end of next chapter most of you will probably have an idea of what I have in mind too, and let me tell you, I'm really excited for it.


	4. Chapter 4

Dakota had told both Cavendish and Savannah that if he discovered anything new that set him apart from the other Squips, then he would tell them. However, he hadn’t been entirely honest with either of them. Dakota didn’t feel any obligation to tell Savannah what was going on with him. She may be his superior, but she was also really cold towards him. She treated him more like a specimen to examine than a living being. Sure, he would tell her some things about himself, just because she might be able to provide some interesting Squip insight. However, there were some things that Dakota had discovered about himself that he thought would be best to keep hidden Savannah.

Cavendish, on the other hand, was his partner. They were supposed to be able to trust each other. Dakota did trust Cavendish, but not necessarily with everything. After all, Cavendish cared about nothing more than he cared about his job. If he thought that Dakota wasn’t as focused on the job as he was, he might change his mind about wanting Dakota as a partner.

It wasn’t that Dakota didn’t care about his assignments, but he probably didn’t care about them in the way that Cavendish would want him to, or the way that the B.o.T.T. expected from him. One thing that Dakota knew about how Squips were supposed to be was that they were programmed with two prime directives. The first and most important one was that they were programmed to complete their assignments, no matter what. As a secondary objective, they were supposed to keep their partners safe.

Dakota’s main motivations and goals weren’t quite like that. It had taken him a few days to notice, but Dakota cared a lot more about Cavendish than he did about protecting pistachios. If it was just that Dakota’s first and secondary goals had gotten switched, then he didn’t think that it would be that big of a deal. But he really didn’t think that was the case, because while he may care about finishing the assignments, it wasn’t because that was his job and purpose, but because it was what would make Cavendish happy.

Everything that Dakota did, it was for Cavendish. Even when they were in the middle of their assignment, Dakota wouldn’t hesitate to let the pistachios they were protecting get destroyed if it meant keeping Cavendish safe. This was something that happened nearly every single mission, as Cavendish could become really oblivious to the world around him when he was focused on a mission. Dakota couldn’t count the number of times that he had to pull Cavendish back onto the sidewalk because he was chasing after a runaway pistachio cart.

Beyond his mixed up priorities, Dakota spent all of his time making sure that Cavendish;s personal needs were taken care of. Cavendish was just so focused and serious, and Dakota knew that he had to take care of his partner, because Cavendish definitely wasn’t going to take care of himself.

And making sure that Cavendish didn’t run himself to the ground and kill himself was definitely a full time job. Dakota practically had to drag Cavendish to eat meals, and even then he was only successful about half the time. Dakota could only make sure that Cavendish ate regularly by carrying snacks with him everywhere and ‘eating’ it. As a Squip, Dakota didn’t really eat food, but he had found that when Cavendish saw him eating, he would regularly ‘sneak’ his snack from him.

Getting Cavendish to eat was easy, getting him to sleep though was a lot more complicated. No matter how tired Cavendish was, nothing that Dakota said could convince him to relax and take a nap. He was so anxious and focused on his job all the time, Cavendish was reluctant to take a five minute break, let alone some time off to sleep. It wasn’t too hard for Dakota to get Cavendish to sleep, but he always felt bad whenever he did it. Afterall, Dakota had promised Cavendish that he wouldn’t control or manipulate him. Cavendish liked being in complete control, and Dakota felt like he was betraying his partner. Dakota may not be silencing Cavendish or manipulating his movements, but when the man got too tired and he was too stubborn to go to sleep, Dakota would mess with Cavendish’s mind and basically force him to sleep.

It wasn’t harmful, at least not the way that Dakota was doing it. He told himself that it was no different than using a simple sleeping drug. Dakota did it for Cavendish’s own good, but he wasn’t foolish enough to think that this didn’t count as controlling Cavendish. He felt kinda bad for doing the one thing that Cavendish had asked him not to do, but if he had to choose between betraying Cavendish and keeping him safe and healthy, Dakota would choose Cavendish’s health every time. It didn’t matter to him if Cavendish hated him, just so long as he was okay.

Dakota still put effort into their missions, just for Cavendish’s sake. He was disappointed when they failed, but not nearly as devastated as Cavendish was.

“I just don’t know why we even bother anymore.” Cavendish groaned. They had just had yet another failed mission, and they were both feeling tired after it. “I give everything I can for the bureau, but it’s not enough. No matter how hard I try, it’s never good enough.” Cavendish fell onto a nearby bench and rested his head in his hands. Dakota grimaced at the sigh. Cavendish was always disappointed after a failed assignment, but it had never been this bad before.

“Hey, come on, it’s not that bad,” Dakota sat down next to Cavendish and put a hand on his back. “Nobody cares more about this job than you do.”

“But that means absolutely nothing if I can’t do the work.” Cavendish moaned. Dakota frowned. Cavendish was beginning to stop blaming Dakota solely for their failed missions, but with nobody else to blame, he had started to blame himself. Dakota was relieved that they were starting to work together as a team, but he almost wished that Cavendish would go back to blaming him. He just hated to see Cavendish like this.

“Cav, you work harder than anybody else does.” Dakota reminded him. “You do your best, and you can’t really do any better than your best, right?”

Cavendish seemed to physically deflate at Dakota’s words. “I do try my best, but it’s still not enough to accomplish even the simplest of assignments.” Cavendish sighed. “Maybe this really isn’t the job for me.”

“Hey, don’t talk like that,” Dakota got up from the bench and stood in front of Cavendish. “You’re good enough to do whatever the heck you want to do, alright? If you want to be a time traveler, then be the best darn time traveler the bureau has ever seen.”

“I’m not sure if I can,” Cavendish said quietly. Dakota had heard enough of this negativity.

“Okay, you know that voice in your head that’s telling you you can’t?” Dakota asked. When Cavendish nodded but still didn’t look up at him Dakota put his hands on his partner’s shoulders to get his attention. “Forget that voice. Listen to this voice when it says we’ve got this.”

Cavendish looked at Dakota with so much doubt and hesitancy in his eyes that it almost hurt. “How can you know that?”

Dakota grinned and tapped a finger to his temple. “You keep forgetting, I’m a supercomputer. I know everything.”

Cavendish scoffed, though it seemed more out of amusement than annoyance, so Dakota considered that a win. “Well, what we’ve been doing so far hasn’t been working. We need to make a new game plan.”

“Yes, a plan,” Dakota agreed enthusiastically. He could stand listening to Cavendish’s obsessive plans. He would take that over Cavendish being depressed any day. “Let’s go for it. What do you have in mind?”

“I...have no idea,” Cavendish admitted reluctantly.

“Okay, let’s break this down,” Dakota sat down on the floor in front of the bench, ignoring the odd look that Cavendish gave him for it. “Let’s start with an easy question. What do you want to do with your career?”

Cavendish looked at Dakota in bemusement. “You call that an easy question? I faced simpler questions when I applied for the bureau.”

Dakota grinned. This was probably his favorite part of working with Cavendish, getting him to relax and have some fun. It was best when Dakota was able to do it without even trying. “Just give it a try.”

Cavendish sighed dramatically, though Dakota could tell it was more for show than true annoyance. “Well, the reason that I joined the bureau in the first place is to save the world.”

“Oh,” Dakota nodded and smiled broadly. “You want to be a hero.”

“Yes, I do,” Cavendish said stubbornly. He was proud, he was sure of what he wanted, and he was determined to achieve his dreams. Cavendish was extremely ambitious and capable, why couldn’t anybody else in the bureau realize this? “But I’m not going to be doing anything of the sort if I’m stuck on pistachio duty for the rest of my life.” There was a bit of despair back in Cavendish’s tone.

“I guess we’re going to have to show the bureau just what you’re capable of,” Dakota said. “I know you can do more, and you know you can do more. Now we just need Mr. Block to realize it.”

“But how are we supposed to do that if we’re always given the most insignificant of assignments?” Cavendish argued, and he had a bit of a point. Cavendish wouldn’t be able to show what he could do unless he really impressed their boss. He wouldn’t even have the chance to impress Mr. Block if he was just stuck on pistachio duty. Even if they did manage to complete their mission, it probably wouldn’t prove anything to Mr. Block, and they would just be given another horrible mission.

Unless something else changed, Cavendish wouldn’t be able to achieve his dream of saving the world, because he would never be given the chance. That wasn’t okay in Dakota’s book. It wasn’t even an option. He had to get creative to help Cavendish, because he wasn’t just going to sit back and do nothing.

“I guess we’ll just have to continue doing our job and hope for an opportunity to come to us.” Dakota said, even as he began searching his databases to get an idea. He knew the chances of an opportunity just falling out of the sky wasn’t all that likely. However, opportunities could be created, and situations could be manipulated, and if there was one thing that Dakota could do, it was manipulate.

Dakota put his hands in his pockets and paused when he felt his fingers brush against something. He brought it out and saw that it was a single pistachio nut. It must have fallen into his pocket during their latest mission. Dakota was confused about how a nut had made its way into his pocket. He had thought that all of the pistachio plants that they were supposed to save had been completely dead by the time they had gotten there. This time, the mission’s failure had nothing to do with them. The farmers had probably just forgotten to fertilize the plants or something.

Pistachio fertilizer...the future had some very interesting pistachio tree fertilizer. Dakota didn’t know what it was about the future, but they insisted on making everything fancy and technological. Everything glowed, and became very volatile under the wrong circumstances. Like service robots that would attack you if you insulted them, or fertilizer that became sentient and violent when it was combined with the chemical diaminohexane.

A sentient blob made of pistachio tree fertilizer had never been used to actually fertilize a pistachio tree, so nobody knew what would happen from it. Dakota suspected that the blob would actually fertilize the tree, but it might also make it sentient and violent. A violent, sentient, pistachio tree. Something like that would be really dangerous...and would probably be just the opportunity that Cavendish needed.

Dakota would see to it that Cavendish saved the world, even if he had to put it in danger himself.


	5. Chapter 5

Everything was going according to plan, which Dakota was honestly surprised about. He may be a supercomputer, but there were so many things to take into account when planning something, and that just took so much effort. Dakota had a vague idea what he wanted to accomplish. His end goal was to give Cavendish the chance to save the world. He had a vague plan to accomplish it. He would combine pistachio fertilizer with diaminohexane, and use the sentient blob to fertilize a pistachio plant. Dakota hadn't really planned anything beyond that.

Dakota could analyze situations really well, but he couldn't predict things all that well. Maybe he  _could_ predict things if he really wanted to, but that wasn't really his style. No matter how hard he tried, it would be impossible for him to predict everything. Instead of even trying, he would rather just go with the flow. He could set things up, and then he would sit back, relax, and let things happen.

By the time Dakota had thought that he should be a little more thorough in his planning, everything had already worked itself out. Dakota had been able to subtly hack into the quantum localizer so that it would send them into the closet of a middle school science classroom. He had thought that he could just grab some of the diaminohexane from the supply closet, get to their actual destination, and slip the chemical into the pistachio tree fertilizer without Cavendish noticing. He had gotten them into the supply closet, and then things had taken a turn for the unexpected.

First, the quantum localizer had ran out of power, and they'd had to charge it. Dakota knew that the device had been completely charged before they had started the assignment. His tampering must have overheated the quantum localizer's systems. Fortunately, it didn't seem like the device was permanently damaged, because Dakota would get in serious trouble if that had happened.

The mess with the quantum localizer had been unexpected, but an easy fix. What had really thrown off Dakota's plan was that there was absolutely no diaminohexane in the supply closet. It was just their luck that the science class in session was using the chemical in their studies. Before Dakota could even begin to think of a backup plan, a familiar looking child had entered the closet, stared at him and Cavendish in shock, before grabbing the pistachio fertilizer and leaving without saying a word. The boy must have mistaken the fertilizer for some chemical absorbent. Dakota could have stopped him, but he didn't say a word. If there had been a chemical spill, and one of the chemicals had been diaminohexane, then Dakota's job might just be done for him.

And, strangely enough, that was exactly what happened. The science class students accidentally created a sentient blob. Dakota was mildly concerned for a moment that the sentient blob was too violent and would quickly get out of control. He knew that his plan would almost certainly put people in danger, but that was the whole point. The whole reason he was doing this was to give Cavendish a chance to prove himself and save the world. For that to happen the world kinda needed to be put in danger. That was the whole idea. However, having students getting hurt because of a sentient blob was different from the entire world being in danger. It was...worse, somehow, which didn't make a whole lot of sense, but Dakota had stopped questioning his feelings. He didn't think it was something he would ever be able to understand.

Dakota could have stayed behind to make sure that the students weren't hurt by the sentient blob, and that was probably exactly what he should have done, but he was focused on his goal. His first priority was to do this thing for Cavendish. Once he knew that the pistachio tree was fertilized by the sentient blob, and the only thing left to do was wait, then he could expand his concerns to people outside of Cavendish.

Dakota didn't know exactly how he would get the sentient blob to go to the pistachio tree in the first place, but fortunately that was yet another thing that just worked itself out. Dakota had thought that his entire plan had gone up in smoke when Cavendish had accidentally stepped on the pistachio plant that had been the prime subject for this little experiment. Dakota had analyzed everything he could about all of the pistachio plants in the area, including how healthy they already were, how young they were, how much sunlight they received, the likelihood of them growing to complete maturity, and how much space and resources the plant may have to share with any other plants around them, and this little pistachio plant in the middle school courtyard was just about the best plant that he could ask for.

Dakota didn't think he would be able to find another pistachio plant that was as perfect as this one was, so he hadn't given up on it immediately. That night after Cavendish was asleep Dakota had gone back to the courtyard to see if there was anything he could do to save the pistachio plant, only to find that it was not only alive and healthy, but also thriving. The pistachio plant looked a lot different than it had before, it was almost unrecognizable, and if Dakota didn't know better he would think it was a new plant entirely. But no, all of Dakota's resources said that this was indeed a pistachio plant, even if its leaves were red instead of green, and it was glowing almost radioactively. Dakota didn't think that this was anything to worry about though, because it was probably just because the pistachio plant was reacting to the sentient blob fertilizing it. Dakota had achieved step one of his goal, and he didn't even know how he had done it.

Dakota grinned and knelt on the ground next to the pistachio plant. "You're going to grow up to be a lot of trouble, aren't you?" He sounded too excited, but he couldn't help it. A quick analysis of this pistachio plant, comparing it to his information about pistachio plants and how they grew, told Dakota that the plant had a 99.9% chance of growing to maturity. This was a 7.2% increase than it had been just earlier that day. The plant had definitely been fertilized. Now all there was left to do was wait for it to grow up.

In the meantime, Dakota could focus on keeping Cavendish happy, which was a lot easier said than done. Cavendish had never been a very cheerful guy, but he was always in a pretty bad mood after they failed an assignment. Cavendish was always a lot more irritated if the failed assignment was definitely one of their faults, and not just because of some freak accident, which meant that he would be a real pain to deal with in the morning.

Dakota knew that if he really wanted Cavendish to be in a cheerful mood, he could always just tell him that the pistachio plant was, in fact, alive, but he didn't want to risk it. Cavendish was extremely reckless sometimes, especially when he was focused on his job. After all, Cavendish had stepped on this pistachio plant just earlier that day. The pistachio plant had only just been fertilized. It needed more time to really stabilize. Once Dakota was sure the plant was strong enough to survive, he would show Cavendish. Until then, he had to find another way to keep Cavendish happy.

This was a lot easier said than done.

The next day was completely unexpected, and a perfect example why Dakota had a tendency to avoid trying to predict things, because there was no way he would have been able to guess what had happened. The biggest surprise of the day was that when Cavendish found out that they had been assigned yet another pistachio related incident, he had complained at first, but then he had decided to do something about it.

Dakota was fairly familiar with Cavendish at this point, so he was extremely caught off guard, but also extremely relieved when Cavendish had decided that he wanted to call Mr. Block and ask about getting a new assignment. Dakota was so impressed that he decided to put in a little effort himself, so when their communicator didn't work he used his connection to Savannah to find her and Brick's location so they could borrow their communicator instead.

Things with Brick and Savannah hadn't gone very well. Apparently his and Cavendish's presence was enough to mess up Brick and Savannah's assignment. Cavendish didn't know the details of what had happened, because Brick and Savannah had gone back and prevented it from happening in the first place. Dakota didn't have that privilege. His connection with Savannah allowed him to tap into her memory systems and see what had happened, and he was not amused.

In the timeline that Brick and Savannah had changed, the two of them had told Cavendish and Dakota to their faces that they were the worst agents, practically telling them that they were completely useless. Dakota didn't mind it so much, but he was insulted on Cavendish's behalf. Cavendish had worked hard to get this job in the first place. Nobody was more dedicated than Cavendish was, and it wasn't okay for Brick and Savannah to insult his capabilities to be a time traveler.

If Dakota had any doubts about his plan, they would be completely gone at this point. This was why he was doing this. Cavendish deserved the chance to prove himself.

Dakota hadn't told Cavendish a word about what Brick and Savannah had told them in the alternate timeline. Cavendish already had his own doubts, he didn't need to know what other people thought of him. Even without him saying anything, Cavendish had a fairly good idea that he wasn't well-respected. What else was he supposed to think, when they were only ever given pistachio related incidents?

Dakota was desperate to find a way to stop Cavendish from thinking too deeply about his own failures, and he had done this the first way that he could think of. That boy who had grabbed the pistachio fertilizer from the closet, he introduced himself as Milo Murphy, made an appearance once again, twice in one day, and both times something had gone wrong. First their pistachio cart had been destroyed by a swordfish (which was something that Dakota was still having a hard time wrapping his head around), and then the pistachio shipment that they were supposed to keep an eye out for had been destroyed. And, once again, Dakota couldn't find any information about how it could have happened. The chances of these events happening at all were extremely slim, let alone on the same day, at the same place, with the same child making an appearance shortly before or after it.

A quick search back through his memory processors confirmed that this wasn't the first time that Milo had been in the area when their missions had gone wrong. Back at the opera house, across the street from the movie theater, he'd been there. Dakota wondered if there were more examples of this. He'd have to do a more thorough search through his memories, but that would take time, so it was something he would have to save until later.

Even if Dakota didn't know for sure what Milo was up to, he decided to tell Cavendish what he knew. He knew exactly what assumption Cavendish would jump to, and he was fairly confident that it was the wrong assumption, but he told Cavendish anyways. Dakota hated how Cavendish blamed himself when their missions went wrong, so when the man began to think that Milo was an enemy agent out to sabotage them, Dakota went ahead and let him. If Cavendish had somebody else to blame, maybe he wouldn't blame himself so much. Maybe it wasn't fair for Dakota to allow Cavendish to look at a child as an enemy, but as long as he wasn't doing anybody any harm, Dakota figured it would be okay.

Cavendish spent the rest of the day going on and on about the 'rival agent'. Dakota only half paid attention to what his partner was saying. He normally listened to everything that Cavendish had to say, no matter how ridiculous or obsessed he sounded, but he couldn't just focus enough this time around. It had been a long day, Dakota was tired and groggy, which he didn't understand. He was a super computer, he wasn't supposed to get tired. Dakota considered resting his systems, but he couldn't do that. As soon as Cavendish went to sleep Dakota was going to try to figure out just who Milo Murphy was.

Finally Cavendish seemed to begin to wind down a bit, and Dakota took this opportunity to 'encourage' him to sleep. It didn't take a lot, as Cavendish was probably just as tired as he was. When Cavendish finally fell asleep, Dakota got to work. He sat down on the ground, his back against the wall. He took off his glasses, as it felt more natural without them, and closed his eyes as he began his search.

Dakota began with what he knew. He searched for other instances in his memory where he and Cavendish may have had a run in with Milo when their missions had gone wrong. It didn't take him long to find the connection. The majority of his memories of their missions going wrong included Milo in one way or another, but he hadn't noticed him earlier when he had just been living in the moment.

But did that mean that Milo had caused these incidents, or was it something else? It would take Dakota more searching to figure that out. He decided to take a chance and search through the B.o.T.T's database, see if there was a Milo Murphy on any of their records. It was a long shot, and Dakota didn't think that would work, but he took a shot, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it paid off big time.

There was an entire extensive file on Milo Murphy. The majority of the file talked about Milo's family, though Dakota quickly noticed that while the females in Milo's family were mentioned briefly, most of the information was focused on the males. There was a very extensive family history on file, dating all the way back to 1800s. Many of the Murphy males had different events cited and referenced next to them, most of the events being tragedies and disasters. Either this was a family of psychos, spanning across generations, or there was something else going on here.

As Dakota searched back far enough he found connection to the name Edward Murphy, and that name was enough to connect all the puzzle pieces. Edward Murphy coined the phrase 'anything that can go wrong,  _will_ go wrong.' It was just a saying, but the more that Dakota looked into this family the more he believed that for this family it wasn't just a cautionary phrase, it was their very lives.

"Dakota?" He opened his eyes and looked to see Cavendish looking tiredly at him. "What are you doing awake at this hour?"

"...Research," Dakota slipped his glasses back on, because he knew how much his eyes bothered Cavendish. "What about you? You don't normally wake up in the middle of the night."

"I have a bit of a headache," Cavendish said, and Dakota could hear the pain in his voice. Dakota pushed any thought about Milo to the back of his mind and got up to get a better look at Cavendish.

"What kind of headache is it?" Dakota asked quickly. "Migrain? Tension headache? Cluster headache?"

"What? No, it's just a headache," Cavendish rolled his eyes and brushed away Dakota's concern. In doing so, their hands brushed, and Cavendish cried out in pain. He quickly drew his hand back and stared at Dakota in alarm. "Wh-what was that?"

"What was what?" Dakota looked down at his hand. It looked perfectly fine, but Cavendish was staring at it like it was going to bite him...or burn him. Dakota did a quick check of his internal systems and quickly found that his body's temperature was much higher than it should be. "...Oh, sorry, I guess that's my bad," Dakota put his hands in his pockets, so as to not burn Cavendish again accidentally. "I kinda got a bit overheated there."

"Overheated?" Cavendish looked at Dakota in confusion for a moment before his eyes widened in sudden understanding. "Wait a moment, have you been working all night?"

"Technically it would only be fore half the night," Dakota pointed out, because it wasn't morning yet. Cavendish paid no attention to this technicality.

"When was the last time you took a rest?" Cavendish asked. "I don't think I've ever seen you sleep before."

Dakota sighed and rolled his eyes a bit. "Cav, I'm a computer, I don't need sleep."

"Don't you use that 'computer' excuse on me," Cavendish said strictly as he crossed his arms. "I know for a fact that computers need sleep as well, in a sense, or else they may get overheated or slow down, which is clearly already happening."

"What do you want me to do about it?" Dakota asked. "Close my eyes and count sheep?"

"No, counting sheep takes effort, and you won't be able to go into sleep mode that way," Cavendish said seriously, completely missing Dakota's sarcastic tone of voice. "Is there honestly no way for you to go into sleep mode or something?"

"Uh, I guess there is," Dakota knew exactly how to do it without even having to think about it. This was just one of things things that Squips knew. "I just haven't done it before because I didn't think I had to."

"Well, I suggest you do it now before you make it impossible for either of us to work in the morning." Cavendish said sharply, though not unkindly. He may be gruff and tired, but there was a note of concern in his voice.

Dakota grinned. "Aw, you  _do_ care about me," Dakota teased. Cavendish scowled and pushed Dakota away from the desk.

"Go to sleep, Dakota," Cavendish said, and Dakota could tell he meant it as an order. Dakota, still grinning broadly, sat back down on the ground. Though it probably wasn't necessary he closed his eyes. He made a mental note to look more into the Murphy files later. That was the last thing he did that night before activating sleep mode and, for once, truly resting.


	6. Chapter 6

Pistachions had taken over in the future. It was all okay though, because they'd saved the world, and the future. There was nothing to worry about. Everything had worked out great, even better than Dakota had hoped for. Cavendish had managed to save the world. Alright, so that wasn't entirely accurate. It had been a team effort. But Cavendish had played enough of a roll in it that he felt proud, like he had justified his position as a time traveler. That was the whole reason why Dakota had arranged this whole mess in the first place. He had accomplished his goal, Cavendish was happy, so Dakota should be feeling pretty darn pleased with himself.

So why did he feel so lousy?

Dakota listened numbly as Cavendish excitedly went over their report that they would be turning in to Mr. Block. He only caught about half of what Cavendish was saying. He knew he should be paying better attention, that he should be celebrating this victory with Cavendish, but his mind was elsewhere.

"...Although perhaps it would be better if we didn't include that bit." Cavendish said thoughtfully "What do you think, Dakota? Dakota?" Cavendish nudged Dakota, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Wha-hey, I'm listening," Dakota blinked and tried to bring his focus back to his partner. "What were you saying?"

Cavendish crossed his arms, giving Dakota an unimpressed look. "So you  _weren't_ listening to me." It wasn't even a question, but a statement.

"Yeah, sorry," Dakota ran his hands through his hair. "I guess I guess distracted."

"Distracted?" Cavendish's annoyed glance turned into one of confusion. "I didn't know you  _could_ get distracted from what I had to say."

Dakota frowned slightly and stared at Cavendish with a look of shock that was identical to his partner's. "Yeah, me neither." He was Cavendish's Squip, his entire programming was tied in with Cavendish's brain. If Cavendish was saying anything, Dakota should be all over it, especially when that something was work related. A Squip shouldn't be distracted from their partner, except by the job.

Dakota guessed that this was just one other way that he was defective.

"What's on your mind?" Cavendish asked, and there was actual, concerned curiosity in his eyes. He wasn't just asking out of obligation or habit, he genuinely wanted to know Dakota's thoughts and feelings. They'd sure come a long way in their partnership from when Cavendish had been annoyed by every little mistake he made and just saw him as an imperfect, unfeeling supercomputer. Cavendish actually saw Dakota as an equal, and in a little bit that would probably feel pretty fantastic, but right now he was too busy thinking about something else.

Dakota felt so many conflicting feelings, it felt like he was having an emotional overload, and he really didn't know how to handle it. He was happy for Cavendish, he really, honestly was, but these feelings were overwhelmed by something else that he didn't recognize. It was like...he felt  _bad_ about what had happened, which didn't make any sense. He really didn't have any reason to feel bad. He may have put the world in danger, but that was only because he had known that Cavendish (and others) could make things right.

Dakota recognized that what he had done, manipulating the circumstances to cause the pistachion's uprising, was morally wrong. But then they had gone back and prevented the pistachion's from ever existing in the first place. Historically, there never had been a creature called a pistachion, it was like the incident hadn't happened at all. If it hadn't happened, then logically that meant that Dakota hadn't actually done anything wrong. So, no, he didn't feel bad, at least, not about his involvement in this incident.

No, what Dakota felt bad about was...was...somebody  _else's_ involvement.

Oh, so  _this_ was what guilt felt like...interesting. Dakota didn't really like it all that much. It was like his gut was twisting up in knots, screaming at him for being a horrible person. He wanted to make the feeling stop. A quick search through databases and sources showed him that one way to ease guilt was by apologizing to the one you'd wronged. He could do that.

"Say, Cavendish, you cool with finishing the report on your own? I've got something I've gotta do," Dakota said. Cavendish looked at him in shock for a moment.

"W-well, yes, I suppose so," Cavendish stammered a bit, clearly trying to hide how thrown off he was. "Where are you going?"

"I'll tell you when I get back," Dakota got to his feet and stretched. "I shouldn't be gone long."

"Well, just be careful," Cavendish said, though he still looked more confused than concerned. Dakota's feelings weren't all that hurt by Cavendish's lack of concern though, because they both knew perfectly well that, as a super computer, it was unlikely that Dakota would find himself in any kind of situation where he would have to be careful. Than again, considering his destination,maybe it would be wise for him to be a bit more cautious.

Dakota adjusted his glasses and left their rented office space. Once outside Dakota put his hands into his pockets and made his way towards their time travel vehicle. He wasn't actually planning on going back in time, but their old car worked just as well as a normal vehicle.

It wasn't until Dakota got into the car did he realize that he had failed to grab the keys from Cavendish. He knew that he could easily just go back upstairs really quickly, it shouldn't take more than a minute, but there really wasn't a lot of need, not for Dakota. The car may be in bad shape, but it was still a time vehicle from the future, with advanced technology that Dakota was familiar with more than anything. It took barely any effort for Dakota to hack into the time vehicle's systems, turning the car on without the key.

Dakota drove the short distance to his location. He parked the car when he was about a block away, just in case. There was no predicting just what could happen at that house, and this time vehicle was already pretty run-down, especially after Cavendish had run it into a brick wall earlier that day. They were already in trouble with Mr. Block, they really shouldn't make that any worse by letting the car getting crushed by a tree.

Dakota left the car behind and made his way down the street to the Murphy house. Milo hadn't actually told him and Cavendish where he lived, but just as Dakota had been able to find information about the Murphy family and their supposed family jinx, he had easily been able to find their address in this time period. It turned out that there was a government group in the agency that had extensive information about the Murphy family and the risk that they were. They'd even gone so far as to map out what they called the 'Murphy sector'. It was quite impressive.

Dakota walked up to the front door and knocked. Milo didn't open the door, but Sara did.

"Oh, hey, it's you," Sara didn't even sound surprised to see him. Dakota guessed this made things a little less awkward. "There aren't any more killer pistachios in the area, are there?"

"Nope, 'fraid not," Dakota smirked. "I just wanted to talk to Milo. He around?"

"Yeah, one minute," Sara said. She stepped back and turned towards the stairs and shouted up them. "Hey, Milo, a friend of yours is here."

Dakota frowned slightly in confusion. He and Milo were at 'friend' status? Dakota's records told him that people often became 'friends' either through prolonged exposure to each other and comradery, or because of a meaningful single experience. Dakota supposed that the second circumstance may apply here, but he hadn't really expected it.

"Coming!" Milo called down from upstairs. A moment later he came down from upstairs, pausing momentarily when he saw who his visitor was. "Oh, hey Dakota," Milo grinned. "What's going on?"

"Hey, kid, I just wanted to have a word with you. You mind?" Dakota jerked his thumb behind him. The front porch would be as private and yet secure a place as any other.

"Sure," Milo said cheerfully. He followed Dakota outside without a moment's hesitation. Dakota briefly thought that Milo should be more cautious, as it could be really dangerous for anybody to go somewhere with a near stranger, especially alone and at night. The safety lecture could wait until later though. Right now, Dakota had come here for a reason, and he wasn't going to distract himself with needless concerns. "What's up?"

"I, uh," Dakota grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. This was a lot harder than his sources implied it should be. "Listen, kid, I wanted to...to apologize."

"Apologize?" Milo frowned slightly in confusion and slight worry. "What do you have to be sorry for?"

Dakota leaned against the front door and stared absently out towards the street. "A lot more than you think." Dakota took a deep breath and decided that just getting it all out quickly would be the best way to do this. There was no point in beating around the bush. "It's my fault that you were ever in danger today, and...and I'm sorry about that."

"Your fault?" Milo's concern deepened. "What are you talking about? You didn't do anything."

Dakota held up a hand to stop Milo. "No, I did, I just...It's a long story. I need you to just listen to me. I promise, it'll all make sense. I just need you to let me explain...please." Dakota didn't know what he was doing, this hadn't been part of the plan. He had come here to apologize to Milo, not explain all of these things to him. They weren't supposed to talk about the future with people from the past, but Milo already knew about time travel, he had already been to the future,what would be the harm in telling him a little more?

"You know about A.I., right?" Dakota asked, because if Milo was going to understand things, then he had to understand  _everything._ Milo nodded and Dakota continued. "Can you imagine what A.I. might be like in the future, in 2175?"

Milo's eyes widened. "Wow, I guess I've never thought about it before," Milo looked excited at the idea. "Maybe the A.I. robots will be so advanced that they'll look, act, and think so much like humans do that there will barely be any difference between us anymore."

Dakota chuckled at Milo's enthusiasm. "Yeah, something like that, though there's a big difference between robots and computers. You're excited though, so I'll let it slide," Dakota reached up and took off his sunglasses, revealing his bright orange and sparking eye. Milo had looked excited before, but now he looked so ecstatic that Dakota wouldn't be surprised if he fainted.

"You...you're a computer?" Milo asked in awe.

"Yep," Dakota put his glasses in his pocket. "All time travelers get a little computer about yea big programmed into their brain," Dakota held his fingers apart to show how small the Squip actually was. "The computer's called a Squip. I'm Cavendish's Squip."

"Wow," Milo's eyes shone with imagination and wonder. A moment later Milo's excitement dimmed. "But why would that make you more responsible for any danger I might have been in? Do you feel like you didn't do enough to keep me safe?"

"Not exactly," Dakota shrugged. Milo was a resourceful kid, he could take care of himself better than Dakota ever could. "It wasn't what I  _could_ have done, it's what I  _did_ do. And what I did was drag you into the situation because I thought you might be of use to my goal."

"What are you talking about?" Milo frowned, and there was finally a look of caution and reluctance in his eyes. Milo was unnerved. That was good.

"I knew that Cavendish had left behind his quantum localizer." Dakota said. "I didn't grab it, because I knew that you would notice it, and would return it to use. Considering Murphy's law, I figured that if you followed me and Cavendish while we tried to borrow a different time vehicle, you would accidentally be dragged along with us. Though, it's not much of an accident when I knew it would probably happen."

"You...you knew what would happen?" Milo still sounded cautious, but that curiosity was back in his eyes. "How?"

"I calculated the probability," Dakota said. "Granted, Murphy's law complicated things, but I was careful to take it into account in my calculations."

"So...you  _wanted_ me to go with you to the future?" Milo asked. "Why?"

"Because I'd looked into the probability of stopping the pistachions, and your presence increased our chances by 54.9%." Dakota said. He could practically see the gears spinning in Milo's mind.

"Uh, I thought you guys didn't know about the pistachions until  _after_ we got to the future." Milo pointed out. He was an observant kid.

" _Cavendish_ didn't know about it," Dakota said. "But I did, because I'm the one who arranged for the pistachios to become sentient in the first place."

Milo froze, his caution and reluctance becoming blatant fear. Dakota hated that look in Milo's eyes, he hated being feared. "Wh-what do you mean?"

Dakota looked Milo in the eyes, feeling a slight pang of hurt when he saw Milo flinch slightly. Was Milo scared of him because of what he'd done, or because of what he  _was_? Dakota frowned and took out his sunglasses again, which he put back on over his eyes. Maybe Milo, like Cavendish, wouldn't be so bothered by the fact that he was a computer if he couldn't see any physical sign of it.

"Just like I'd calculated the probability of you following us, and predicted how helpful you would be to make things right, I'd calculated and predicted the circumstances that would cause the pistachions to become sentient and dangerous, and I'd manipulated the circumstances to make it happen."

"But...wait a second," Milo frowned slightly, that look of confusion coming back, mostly replacing the fear. "Why would you arrange for the pistachio incident to happen, only to arrange to undo it all?"

"Because that was the whole point of it," Dakota said, like it was obvious, because to him it was. "I didn't do it because I wanted to see the world burn. That's a stereotype of robots and computers, like if they become too smart then they'll try to overthrow the humans or something," Dakota rolled his eyes. "I did it for Cavendish."

"For...Cavendish?" Milo raised an eyebrow. "What does Cavendish have to do with this?"

"Everything," Dakota smiled slightly. "Every instinct in my programming is dedicated to helping Cavendish, and that includes helping him progress with his job. He's not all that respected by our fellow time travelers. They treat him really terribly. Cavendish has always wanted to be a hero, to save the world, and he also wanted to be respected. I doubted that Cavendish would just be handed the opportunity to make something of himself. I knew he would be able to prove himself, he just needed the chance."

"...And since your boss wasn't going to give him the chance, you decided to make one for yourself?" Milo asked. Dakota nodded.

"Yeah, but I dragged you into it, and I didn't really have any right to do that to you or your friends. "Dakota said. "So I'm sorry."

Milo tilted his head slightly. His fear was all but gone at this point. "You're sorry for involving me...but not for causing it in the first place?"

"Yeah, of course," Dakota said. "My calculations told me that we'd be able to undo any mess that I made. But no matter what calculations I made, I couldn't really account for Murphy's law. I didn't have a guarantee that you would be completely safe, but I involved you anyways. That was wrong."

"And...creating killer pistachios wasn't?" Milo asked quietly. He had that concerned look back on his face, just like the one he'd had when he hadn't understood why Dakota had blamed himself.

"No, like I said, I knew we would be able to undo anything that I had done." Dakota said automatically. "I did something wrong, but it was for a justifiable reason, and we fixed things, didn't we? Other than the six of us, nobody even knows what happened. No harm done."

"Uh, that's not really how it works," Milo chuckled somewhat nervously. "Do you know  _why_ what you did is considered wrong?"

"Of course," Dakota did a quick search through his sources, not because he had to, but just by instinct. "If the pistachions had won, they would have hurt people. But they didn't win, nobody got hurt."

"Yeah, but they  _might_ have." Milo pointed out. He frowned slightly and thought for a moment. "Actually...uh, imagine if somebody tried to hurt someone else, but they were stopped and nobody got hurt. The person who tried to cause the pain said that they had been trying to help the other person to be stronger. Would the attacker be right, or wrong?"

Dakota frowned. Milo's words caused that horrible feeling of guilt to come back. It wasn't as bad as before, but it was still there. Milo was appealing to his human emotions, but what did his extensive computer knowledge have to say about it? Dakota did a quick search of his databases. He didn't find an exact match to Milo's hypothetical example, but he was able to find enough knowledge that he could logically understand.

"Okay, yeah, you've got a fair point." Dakota admitted. Milo gave him a small smile.

"So, you're not going to do something about this again?" Milo asked, then he seemed to change his mind. "Actually, if you are tempted to do something wrong for a good reason, maybe you can talk it over with me first? Get a second opinion on it?" Milo offered out his hand like they were making a deal. Dakota stared at it in confusion.

"I don't understand," Dakota said. "You seemed distressed, you think what I did was wrong. You were  _afraid_ of me."

"Well, yeah, a bit," Milo said. There was a small look of guilt in the kid's eyes, though Dakota didn't know why it was there. "But you're a computer, right? You seem really human, but you're still different. It makes sense that you don't really understand things the way that people do. You don't  _seem_ malicious, just a bit confused about what we think right and wrong are. Has anybody ever taught you?"

"Eh, not really," Dakota shrugged. "Squips are programmed to accomplish their mission no matter the costs."

"And your 'mission' was to help Cavendish to save the world," Milo nodded. It wasn't exactly what Dakota's mission was, more like his own personal goal, but it was close enough. "Me getting involved was part of your 'mission', but you still felt bad about it, because you knew it was wrong. I know you  _can_ recognize right and wrong outside of you main mission, you just might need a bit of help with it, and that's okay."

"And you're offering to help teach me?" Dakota stared at Milo's still extended hand. "Why are you still being nice to me?"

"Because we're friends," Milo said, as though it was obvious, which it really wasn't. Dakota hadn't even known that they had qualified as friends before he'd come here, and after all that Milo had learned he was still willing to call him that? This went against the majority of Dakota's references on human behavior. Somehow, Milo's kindness surprised Dakota more than his resourcefulness. Milo's grin dimmed when he noticed Dakota's hesitence. "Unless you don't  _want_ to be friends, and that's fine, I just thought-"

"What? No, of  _course_ I want to be friends," Dakota insisted, and he meant it. He hadn't allowed himself to get close to anybody other than Cavendish. It felt odd, but nice. "I just don't entirely understand why  _you_ would want to be friends with  _me."_ Still, Dakota accepted Milo's handshake, which caused the boy to beam at him.

"We can work on that too," Milo said with cheerful confidence, though Dakota didn't really know what he was talking about. "You don't have any other secret plans to 'save' the world, do you?" Milo asked somewhat cautiously. Dakota didn't blame him for that, he kinda deserved it.

"Not right now I don't," Dakota said. When Milo gave him a sharp look he changed his tune slightly. "But if I do, you'll be the first to know so you can morally talk me out of it, okay?"

"Okay!" Milo looked way too happy for a boy who had basically signed up to the the moral compass of a supercomputer from the future. A moment later Milo's excited grin fell slightly. "But...what if I'm busy, or you can't get ahold of me?"

"Uh, I don't know." Dakota frowned slightly. Somehow, he hadn't even considered that possibility, though he really should have. "What do you want to do? We don't exactly have a backup moral compass lying around. I don't think most people will be as accepting of me almost destroying the world as you are."

"Yeah, I guess not," Milo said, looking somewhat dejected. A moment later Milo's grin picked up again. "Oh, what about Cavendish? You're always around him, right?"

"No!" Dakota said so intensely that he felt his eye spark. Milo looked taken aback by his outburst. Dakota felt that guilt again, though it was smaller than the other times. Now that he had recognized guilt when he felt it, would he just be feeling it for every little thing that he did even remotely wrong? "Sorry, I just...Cavendish  _can't_ know about this, he would flip out."

Milo frowned. "But you two are partners, and you said that you did this for  _him._  I really think that Cavendish should know."

"Yeah, maybe," Dakota ran a hand through his hair. He wasn't so sure about this, but Milo was giving him this stern and yet pleading look that he just couldn't say no to. "Look, I'll tell him later, but maybe we should let things calm down a bit first."

"You  _promise_ you'll tell him?" Milo asked, though somehow it didn't seem like he was truly pushing Dakota to do something he didn't feel comfortable with. He just sounded concerned.

"Tell you what, if I haven't told him by noon in two days, I'll tell him then," Dakota suggested while he made a mental note to himself. He even put 'tell Cavendish the truth' on there as a personal agenda, which his programming wouldn't let him avoid doing. He wouldn't be able to chicken out or put it off any longer than he had already planned.

"Okay," Milo said. He didn't look disappointed that Dakota was procrastinating, but proud that he was planning on doing it at all. "If you want to talk at all, just call me, alright? And don't worry about Cavendish. I'm sure after you explain things to him like you did to me, he'll understand."

Milo's confidence was contagious. Dakota grinned at him. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Cavendish may be a stick in the mud who saw things in a very black and white kind of way, but Dakota knew for a fact that, though they were few, there were instances where Cavendish accepted shades of gray as being a fact of life. Maybe this would be one of those times. Milo was probably right, everything would work out just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who got to see Be More Chill last week? Yeah, that's right, it was this person right here, and it was amazing. I didn't get to see the Broadway production (that would have been just way too awesome and out of my price range), but my brother's college was doing the show, so I got to see it then (unfortunately, my brother wasn't in the show itself).
> 
> On a more related note, adorable, supportive Milo is adorable and supportive. That is all.


	7. Chapter 7

After they had defeated the pistachions and fixed the timeline, Dakota had started to experience emotions more strongly than any Squip ever should. Well, that wasn't exactly the case. Dakota had always had these emotions, but after he had identified guilt about dragging Milo into the whole pistachion mess it just  _seemed_ like it was so much worse. Maybe after identifying one complicated emotion for what it was, his systems were now more familiar with the process and could do it much more easily. Maybe he was subconsciously trying to feel emotions more similarly to how a human would feel them. Maybe there was a malfunction in his system (at least, more than usual), that was making him imagine all of these things. He wasn't really sure, and thinking about it stressed him out and overheated his systems slightly, which would just make him even more stressed because he knew that Cavendish would be able to feel it, even if he didn't understand just what was going on.

It was times like this that Dakota wondered if things would be easier if he was either a fully functional Squip or a human being like Cavendish was. If he was a proper Squip, he wouldn't have to worry about emotions like this. If he was a human, he would still have the emotions, but maybe he wouldn't be trying to analyze them so much because they would be completely normal. His emotions wouldn't make him a freak of nature, they'd just make him human.

Dakota had promised Milo that he would tell Cavendish about just what he had done. The closer he got to his self-appointed deadline, the more stressed he got about it, except he didn't think that was quite it.

Dakota was familiar with the feeling of stress. He couldn't say for sure, but he thought that even Squips like Savannah experienced stress of some kind, just because of how they were programmed. They were expected to get the work done perfectly, while also working with humans, who were, by nature, imperfect and unpredictable. It was a crazy balance that made theirs jobs really hard.

So, no, this wasn't stress. He didn't feel overworked or frustrated when he thought of what could go wrong when he told Cavendish, he just felt worried and, strangely enough, scared. Dakota had easily been able to identify that what he was feeling was probably anxiety, but that just confused him even more. All of Dakota's records told him that anxiety could be a feeling, but it could also be something much more intense than that. He didn't entirely understand it, and he felt even more anxious whenever he tried.

Did humans' emotions become such a destructive and exhausting cycle? If so, how did they do it all the time?

One positive (if someone could call it that) about having all of these overwhelming feelings was that they were so strong that they almost distracted Dakota from the very thing that he was so anxious about in the first place. Dakota didn't know if that was normal, to get anxious about something, only for that anxiety to grow so much until you were getting anxious about just how anxious you were, and you forgot about what was worrying you in the first place.

Dakota didn't know if that was the case for humans. For all he knew, he was the only one who felt something like this. If he was the only one, well, that would just be one more thing that would make Dakota weird compared to everybody else. At this point Dakota would probably be more confused to find that what he was thinking and feeling wasn't so different after all.

Dakota was so stuck in his own thoughts and emotions that he was sure that Cavendish could feel it. Cavendish kept on looking at Dakota in confusion and slight concern, but he never asked about what was going on. Cavendish was probably waiting for Dakota to open up to him, but considering the whole reason why Dakota was anxious in the first place was because he didn't  _want_ to talk to Cavendish, that wasn't going to happen. Not until Dakota was unable to put it off for any longer.

Unfortunately, that moment came a lot sooner than he would have wanted it to.

Dakota and Cavendish were on their way to lunch two days after that whole pistachion incident when Dakota felt a mental alarm go off in his programming. It wasn't an alarm that indicated that something was wrong, it was just one to tell him that he had run out of time. Of course, in this particular case, Dakota couldn't help but feel like the two were one in the same.

Cavendish stopped in his tracks and down at his watch in slight confusion. "Are we supposed to be somewhere right now?" Dakota rubbed the back of his neck. He was a supercomputer programmed right into Cavendish's brain. Dakota should have known that an alarm that he had set up for himself would alert Cavendish too.

"Sorry, Cav, that's for me," Dakota said, letting the nickname slip without even thinking about it. "I've, uh, I've got something super important to talk to you about."

Cavendish frowned slightly, a look of concern in his eyes. "O-of course," He looked around. "Did you want to speak in the restaurant, or-"

"Actually, I think we should go somewhere a little more private, you know?" Dakota suggested. "You can always eat later." Cavendish stared at Dakota in shock. Dakota always went out of his way to make sure that Cavendish ate all the food that he needed, and possibly even a little bit more. Cavendish had said before that if he didn't know that Dakota was a computer that was incapable of eating food, he would think that he was obsessed with eating. And yet here Dakota was, prioritizing a serious conversation over eating. Of course Cavendish was confused and concerned.

"O-okay," Cavendish said quietly. He took Dakota's hand and let himself be lead off towards the park. Normally Cavendish wouldn't be so willing to demonstrate anything that even remotely resembled physical affection, especially not in public. Dakota knew why Cavendish had taken his hand in the first place, so that he could check to see if he was warm to the touch and overheating, which he wasn't. Dakota just didn't know why Cavendish hadn't let go of him.

Dakota lead them to a somewhat secluded park in the city. There were people around, but there weren't a lot, and the few of them around were minding their own business. They would have a decent amount of privacy here. Dakota took a seat on a nearby bench, with Cavendish sitting right next to him.

"Is something wrong?" Cavendish asked.

"That depends who you ask, I guess," Dakota shrugged. He didn't  _feel_ like he'd done anything wrong, but, as Milo had pointed out to him, he had.

"I'm asking you," Cavendish said with a frown.

"Yeah, I guess you are," Dakota chuckled and leaned back. His anxiety about telling Cavendish was even worse now than it had been before, and he hadn't thought that was possible. Dakota wasn't ready for this. He didn't want to tell Cavendish at all, let alone now. If he could, he would put it off until later, but it wasn't possible. When Dakota had given himself that deadline, that was it, telling Cavendish at this time was now in his programming. He couldn't avoid it anymore. Whether he liked it or not, this was the time.

Just like when he had told Milo, Dakota just told Cavendish what was on his mind. He couldn't worry about what Cavendish would say. He couldn't try to figure out how Cavendish would react. He just had to go for it and hope for the best.

Dakota didn't dare to look at Cavendish as he told him about how this whole pistachion incident had been planned. He just talked, and once he got started it was like he couldn't stop. In just a few minutes Dakota had explained everything. He had rushed through his explanation a bit, and now he wished that he had take his time. Describing what had happened wasn't what made him nervous, Cavendish's reaction to it was, and now that he was done talking that was exactly what he was about to deal with.

When Dakota stopped talking, the two of them sat in silence for a bit. Dakota began bouncing his foot slightly, and he somehow couldn't get himself to stop. He glanced up and looked towards Cavendish, whose face was blank and revealed absolutely nothing about what he was thinking. Dakota tried to read into Cavendish's actual thoughts, but somehow those were even more blank and unreadable than his expression was. Dakota was getting scared now.

"...Okay, I get that you're pretty freaked out right now," Dakota said. He tried hard to keep his voice even, to not let Cavendish know just how freaked out he himself was. "I know you might want to, I don't know, yell at me or something, and I'd be really cool with that. You can yell at me, scold me, call me a malfunctional idiot," Dakota's voice cracked and Cavendish's eye twitched slightly. "Just... _say_  something...please."

"I...you…" Cavendish took a deep breath and steeled his expression even more, which Dakota hadn't thought was possible. "What were you thinking?"

"What was I...Cav, I just barely  _told_ you what I was thinking." Dakota frowned.

"But it doesn't make any sense!" Cavendish said sharply, going back to sounding like his easily agitated, normal old self. Dakota wished that this really was like how things used to be, but he knew it wasn't. As annoyed as Cavendish was, he was just getting started. "What could possibly possess you to think that  _destroying the world and all of humanity_ would be a good idea?"

"Hey, I didn't do any of that," Dakota said sternly, because he hadn't. Why was that so hard for Cavendish to understand? Milo got it, and he was just a child. "I told you, for you to be able to save the world, like you've told me dozens of times is your goal, then the world has to be in danger first. In danger, yeah, but not  _destroyed._ "

"This wasn't what I wanted," Cavendish glared at Dakota. " _Not_ like this, Dakota. What...why would you…" Cavendish's expression darkened suddenly, and Dakota was alarmed to realize that he was actually a little scared of his partner right now. "...This is because of your defective system, isn't it?"

"Wh-what?" Dakota flinched. Cavendish knew how sensitive Dakota was about his deficiencies. Was he really so mad that he would bring it up like this? Dakota had been worried about telling Cavendish, but his partner was reacting worse than Dakota had worried he would.

Cavendish got to his feet. "The bureau wouldn't be using Squips if they were all vicious monsters that tried to destroy the world when left to their own devices for five minutes."

Dakota leaned away from Cavendish, who had started pacing furiously. "Hey, you don't see me saying that your social awkwardness and unwillingness to listen to any idea that isn't your own is the reason why you're not going anywhere in the bureau."

" _Excuse_ me?!" Cavendish turned back towards Dakota, pure fury in his eyes. Dakota held up his hands defensively.

"Hey, what I just said, you know that isn't what I actually think, it's what  _you_ think, and are extremely sensitive about." Dakota glared at Cavendish. "You know, this is why you have a hard time making friends. You keep on saying the first thing that pops into your head and never think about how you would feel if they said something like that to you. That's something we'll just have to-"

"No," Cavendish interrupted. " _We're_ not doing anything...not anymore." Cavendish shook his head. "I can't deal with you right now." Cavendish began to storm away. Dakota sat where he was and just watched Cavendish leave. That really hadn't gone the way he had wanted it to. There were very few ways that it could have gone worse, and Dakota found himself thinking over all of those possibilities.

Even worse though was that Dakota couldn't keep himself from thinking about all of the possible ways that things could get even worse. There were so many ways, and Dakota was too stressed to properly think things through. He could imagine what could happen from this point on, but he couldn't focus and calm down enough to think through just what could cause the worst possible scenarios. He didn't know if giving Cavendish his space would give him the chance to calm down, or if it would just give him the chance to do something really stupid that they would both regret in the future.

Dakota didn't know what to do, so he just sat there, numbly. He groaned and put his hands in his hair, resting his elbows on his knees. What was the use of being capable of foreseeing all of these possibilities when his thoughts were getting so jumbled up that he couldn't do anything with this knowledge except get even more stressed out by it?

"Dakota?" He blinked and looked up to see Milo in front of him, his eyes shining in concern. "Are you okay?"

"I, uh, I don't know," Dakota said honestly. He saw Milo's friend's standing right behind him. They didn't know what he was, and he didn't know how they would react if they knew. He was tired of working with so many variables. "You remember that thing that we talked about a few days ago? The thing that he told me to talk to Cavendish about?"

Milo's eyes widened. He looked shocked, and a little bit unnerved about the reminder, but when Milo smiled Dakota was relieved to see just how sincere it was. At least Milo was somewhat okay with this whole thing. "Oh yeah, did you tell him yet? How did it go?"

"Uh, not so good," Dakota grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. "I-I think I seriously screwed up." Dakota didn't know if he was talking about his conversation with Cavendish, or his whole plan with the pistachions, he just felt like he had really messed up  _something_  and he didn't know how to make it better.

"I-I'm sorry about that," Milo frowned. He actually looked truly saddened just because Dakota was feeling pretty down. Dakota wondered if Milo was naturally this sympathetic, or if it was something that he had taught himself. It certainly made him much different from Cavendish. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Talking was what had caused Dakota to feel like this in the first place. It should be the last thing that he would want to do, so he was surprised to find just how appealing the suggestion was. "Actually, yeah, I kinda do." Dakota didn't think he should be around Cavendish right now, but he really didn't want to be alone either. He was glad that Milo apparently actually wanted to be around him. He didn't quite understand it, but he was too grateful to say anything about it. He was just glad for Milo's willingness to help, even though they barely knew each other, and what Milo  _did_ know about him wasn't all that good.

Milo was a good kid. He deserved better than to be friends with a defective Squip like him. Maybe Milo just didn't understand that Dakota didn't function the way that his programming said he should, so he didn't have any reason to distrust him other than the fact that he had caused an army of sentient pistachios to nearly take over the world.

Dakota really didn't understand Milo, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He was just going to appreciate the help, and the company, because at that moment he really felt like he needed a friend.


	8. Chapter 8

Dakota frowned and put his hands in his pockets as he followed behind Milo and his friends.  Milo had asked if he’d wanted to talk about what had happened with Cavendish, but it would have to wait until they were alone.  At least for now, Dakota didn’t think it would be smart to tell Milo’s friends about just what he was. Sure, they might be as welcoming about it as Milo was, or they might freak out.  Or they might just not believe him at all and think that he was crazy.

 

Dakota normally didn’t care about predicting the future completely accurately.  He was normally fine with going with the flow a bit. Maybe it was because of this whole thing with Cavendish, but at that moment Dakota hated not knowing what could happen.  He felt like he had no control of anything, and there was a big difference between relaxing and letting things happen, and spiraling out of uncontrol.

 

Dakota walked silently behind Milo and the others, blocking out their conversation.  Just because he was there didn’t mean that he had to listen in on their personal conversation.  He may be a super computer, but just because he was capable of invading people’s privacy didn’t mean that he actively liked doing it.

 

For the most part the kids ignored him, though he saw Milo glance back and look at him in concern every once and awhile.  Milo didn’t say anything to him, though Dakota could tell he really wanted to. Whether it was because his friends were there, or because he saw something in Dakota’s expression that made him hold his tongue, Dakota wasn’t sure.

 

While walking in silence Dakota didn’t want to let his thoughts wander, because he knew he would just end up stressing himself out again, just like before.  Instead of overprocessing every little thought that popped into his head, Dakota just let his mind go blank and shut down. Kind of like the ‘sleep’ mode on computers that Cavendish encouraged him to use every once and awhile, except his body was still functioning.  He just tried to turn his mind off, while still being aware of what was going on around him.

 

“Hey, you doing okay over there, Dakota?”  The girl, Melissa asked suddenly. Dakota blinked and could practically feel his systems starting up again, except it felt different, somehow.  Something was wrong. “You’re looking a little hot over there.”

 

Dakota looked down at himself.  He didn’t  _ feel  _ hot, but he knew that how he physically felt was different than how his skin might feel to the touch.  Almost as though he had read his mind, Milo came closer to Dakota and reached his hand up to rest against his forehead.  It was a good thing that Milo had done this, because when Milo’s hand came in contact with Dakota’s skin there was a small shock that they both felt.  It wasn’t like static electricity, but like the kind of shock you might feel if you touched an open wire.

 

Dakota and Milo looked at each other in shock.  It wasn’t unusual for Dakota’s physical form to reflect his core systems, like how his skin would feel warm if his systems were overheated.  Or the way that his eye was discolored and constantly sparked. This was unexpected though, and neither of them knew what it meant.

 

Milo seemed to recover from the shock sooner than Dakota did.  “He feels a little warm,” Milo reported back to his friends.

 

“I don’t feel sick though,”  Dakota said, and that was the truth.  He was confused, that much he was sure of, but physically he felt fine.  Although, now that he thought about it…”I mean,  _ zutsū ga shimasu-” _   Dakota’s eyes widened and he slapped a hand over his mouth.  That...that  _ definitely  _ wasn’t supposed to happen.

 

The kids all stared at him like he had suddenly grown another head, though considering he had randomly started speaking  _ Japanese _ , he didn’t blame them.

 

“Uh, are you  _ sure  _ you’re okay?”  Zack asked, a wary look of concern in his eyes, though Dakota really couldn’t tell if he was worried about him, or if he was worried about what he could do to them.

 

“ _ Watashi wa...ugh,”   _ Dakota grimaced and clenched his eyes shut tight.  His had hurt a little bit, which is what he’d tried to say earlier, but now it felt even worse.  It was like a connection to his core systems had been blocked off, and he didn’t know what functions he was lacking.  “I’m fine, I just...I don’t know what I’m doing.”

 

Zack still looked worried, but his caution was mostly replaced with sympathy.  “How  _ are  _ you feeling, if you’re not sick?”

 

“Uh,”  Dakota thought about that for a moment.  He didn’t really know how he felt. He didn’t even know if he just didn’t recognize some new feelings that had crept up on him, or if he just couldn’t focus enough to actually identify what he was feeling.  He didn’t just want to not provide answers though, so he said the first things that came to his mind. “Kinda disconnected, I feel like I  _ should  _ feel anxious, but I don’t,”  Dakota just felt confused about what was going on.  He was aware of what had been making him so worried before, but those feelings just weren’t there anymore.  It was a little unnerving. “Oh, I also feel like everything is happening kinda slow.” He didn’t know how to describe it beyond that.  It didn’t exactly feel all that slow, but just enough for it to be noticeable.

 

Zack nodded, and Dakota decided that he really didn’t like that look in his eyes.  It seemed like Zack had an idea of what was going on, and Dakota hated it, because he felt like he was wandering around blindly.   “Dude, please, don’t take this the wrong way, but are you drunk?”

 

Milo and Dakota both looked at Zack like  _ he  _ was the one who had suddenly started speaking another language.  “Drunk?” Milo looked from Zack to Dakota in confusion. Milo didn’t say anything, but Dakota could see the unspoken question in his eyes.  ‘ _ Is it possible for you to get drunk?’ _

The answer was ‘no’.  Dakota was a computer.  He  _ couldn’t  _ get drunk.   _ Cavendish,  _ however…

 

“ _ Kuso _ ,”  Dakota swore in Japanese before he could think to censor himself or watch what language he was using.  “Cavendish, what did you  _ do?” _

 

Zack and Melissa looked at each other in confusion, but Milo seemed to at least have an idea of what Dakota was talking about.  He looked alarmed and very concerned. Milo turned towards his friends. “Hey, guys, I think Dakota needs some help right now. Can I catch up with you later?”

 

Zack looked extremely worried, though Dakota didn’t know if that concern was more for him, or for Milo.  Melissa though nodded and nudged Zack’s arm. “Yeah, we’ll see you later, Milo.”

 

Dakota frowned as Milo took his hand and pulled him down the street towards his house.  Milo didn’t say anything as they walked, he just held tightly to Dakota’s hand, regardless of the constant shock that they both felt at the connection.  Dakota still didn’t know exactly what that spark meant, but he had a pretty good idea of  _ why  _ it was there.

 

Once they got to Milo’s house the boy lead the way into the backyard.  Their little journey couldn’t have taken more than a few minutes, but Dakota’s head, which had been hurting before, felt like it was splitting his head apart.

 

“Are you okay?”  Milo asked once they were in the privacy of his backyard.  Dakota was about to say that he was fine when his remaining connection to his systems seemed to shut off completely.  Dakota’s vision and thoughts seemed to shut down entirely. One second he was there, and the next he just kinda stopped existing entirely.  Of course, Dakota didn’t feel anything at all while he had been out of it, but when he came back to he  _ definitely  _ felt the difference.

 

“Dakota?!”  Milo’s concerned expression was the first thing that Dakota saw when his vision returned to him.  “What happened? You just...you disappeared.”

 

Dakota felt a sudden spike of anxiety in his chest.  He had glitched out? That wasn’t good. It really,  _ really  _ wasn’t good.  “He hates me...Cavendish actually hates me.”

 

“What...what did Cavendish do?”  Milo asked, like he was scared to hear the answer.  “You mentioned him earlier. If  _ he  _ gets drunk, would you feel it too?”

 

“Kinda,”  Dakota took his glasses off and looked at them.  “Alcohol messes with your brain, and Squips are programmed right into the brain.  It messes with my connection to Cavendish, and I guess it messes with my programming too, a bit.”  It was why Dakota had slipped into speaking Japanese when he hadn’t thought about it. Squips had been created in Japan, so the language was in their initial programming.  Squips automatically adjusted their programming to accommodate the language that their partner was most comfortable with. It was such a basic part of their function, and it really worried Dakota that it had been messed with.

 

“M-maybe Cavendish didn’t know?”  Milo suggested, trying to stay optimistic, though there was a look of doubt in his eyes.

 

Dakota shook his head.  “When Cavendish first got me, he went to talk to another time traveler about just what Squips are.  I’m sure that this would have been the first thing he would have been told. And Cavendish  _ hates  _ drinking.  He wouldn’t do it for fun, or even because he was stressed.  He did this  _ because  _ he knew it would mess with me.”

 

“Why would he do that?”  Milo asked, and he actually looked pained on Dakota’s behalf.  “Why would he want to hurt you like that?”

 

“Honestly, I don’t think he was thinking about hurting me,”  Dakota said, and somehow that made it hurt even more. “Cavendish said that I was a  _ monster _ , he’s probably worried that I would do something to hurt someone else.”

 

“But-but you  _ wouldn’t,”   _ Milo said confidently, though he immediately changed his mind.  “I mean, you wouldn’t  _ try  _ to.”

 

“He doesn’t believe that,”  Dakota said. “And he’s not going to listen to me if I try to talk to him.”  Dakota was sure that was at least part of the reason why Cavendish had gotten himself drunk, so that Dakota wouldn’t be able to communicate easily with him.

 

Dakota wasn’t anywhere near Cavendish, and yet the man was still worried about his influence.  Was he really that afraid of him?

 

Milo frowned.  “I  _ really  _ think you need to talk to Cavendish.”

 

Dakota grimaced.  “He’s not going to like it,”  But he knew that Milo was right.  Cavendish was really good at running away from complicated emotions, and he was the master at letting his desire for being a hero evolve into a sense of self-righteousness.  If Dakota just left Cavendish on his own, the man might just continue to let himself be drunk for as long as he could, and that wouldn’t do either of them any good.

 

Dakota sighed and closed his eyes.  If he was going to be talking to Cavendish, he had to find where he was.  It was a lot harder than it should be. Dakota searched and searched for a few moments without finding anything when finally he noticed something that he could work with.  Though Dakota felt the need to double check what he had found, because it didn’t seem right.

 

Dakota’s records showed that his and Cavendish’s car had been used for time traveling just a few minutes ago.  Was Cavendish so desperate to get as far away from Dakota as he could that he was driving their time vehicle while he was  _ drunk? _   Why would he do that?  And why would he travel back to 1965?  That time period held no meaning to Cavendish.  Was he just trying to get as far away from Dakota as he could and had just chosen a random time period to escape to?  Or maybe the car had broken down in the middle of time traveling and just sent Cavendish to the nearest time (It wouldn’t be the first time it had happened).

 

Whatever the case, Dakota knew that Cavendish wouldn’t be gone forever, and when he came back, they would definitely need to talk.  Dakota sighed and put his glasses back on. He really wasn’t looking forward to this. “I should probably head back to our apartment, be there before Cavendish gets back, you know?”

 

Even though Milo had been the one to encourage Dakota to talk to Cavendish, he suddenly looked very anxious about it.  “Do you want me to go with you?” Dakota considered the idea. He would appreciate the company, and it might help to have a buffer there when they talked.  However, Cavendish would probably still be drunk, and Dakota didn’t know what kind of drunk Cavendish was. If he was violent when he was drunk (unlikely, but still a possibility), then Dakota would be putting Milo in danger by bringing him along.

 

“Nah, I’ll be fine,”  Dakota said casually. He had already put Milo in danger because his presence would be convenient, he wasn’t going to do it again.  “I’ll see you later, Milo,”

 

“Tomorrow?”  Milo asked, a flash of concern in his eyes.  Dakota paused. The kid really seemed worried about him.  It wouldn’t feel right to make him sit and worry for any longer than he had to.

 

“Yeah, I’ll come by and see you tomorrow, or at the very least I’ll call, alright?”  Dakota suggested. He wouldn’t leave the kid hanging.

 

Milo immediately relaxed at Dakota’s words.  “Alright,” Dakota grinned and put his hands in his pockets to keep himself from ruffling Milo’s hair.  He didn’t want to accidentally shock the kid again. “Bye, Dakota,”

 

Maybe it was just because he was nervous about what would happen with Cavendish, but Dakota felt nervous hearing Milo saying goodbye to him.  It felt kinda permanent. Dakota pushed back the feeling though, told himself that his nerves were just making him paranoid about everything, and went on his way back to the apartment.

 

As Dakota walked, he began to try to search through his database again.  It was hard to focus on anything though. It was like all of Dakota’s files had been jumbled up and then haphazardly thrown together again.  All of Dakota’s data was still right there, but it wasn’t where it should be, and he didn’t know how to go about looking for it. It was a bit of a miracle that he’d been able to find records that showed that Cavendish had travelled back to 1965 in the first place.

 

It wasn’t long before Dakota returned to the strip mall where their office that doubled as a sorry excuse for an apartment was.  It wasn’t until he got there though did Dakota realize that Cavendish was the one with the keys. Dakota wouldn’t be able to get in.  Dakota groaned and sat down on the stairs that lead up to the second floor of the strip mall. This just wasn’t his day.

 

Dakota grimaced and closed his eyes.  He rested his elbows on his knees and massaged his head slightly with his hands.  His headache had calmed down slightly, but it still felt like somebody was pounding on his head like a drum.  Dakota wondered if Cavendish was feeling this pain too.

 

“Dakota?”  Huh, speak of the devil.  Dakota lifted his head and turned towards the parking lot.  Cavendish was there, sitting in the car. He must have just gotten back.  Dakota gave his partner a little wave. Cavendish certainly looked better than Dakota felt.  Sure, Cavendish’s eyes were slightly bloodshot, and he looked like he was going to be sick, but Dakota got the impression that this was because of something else.

 

Cavendish stared at Dakota for a bit, turned to look at something next to him, and then looked at Dakota again, a look of grief in his eyes.  “What are you doing here?” Cavendish slowly opened the door of the car and got out, though not before grabbing something, an orange bottle, from the seat next to him.  Cavendish clutched the bottle sightly with both hands, hiding the label.

 

Dakota stood up and took a step towards Cavendish, though stopped when the man flinched.  Right, he still thought that Dakota was dangerous. “I really think we need to talk about what happened.”

 

Cavendish’s grip on the bottle tightened as he glanced down at it and swallowed thickly.  “No, I think it would be best if we didn’t.” Cavendish’s voice was even, but it sounded forced, like he was just seconds away from either exploding at Dakota or breaking down in front of him.  Dakota didn’t know which option would be the worse one. “I don’t want to hear another word from you.”

 

“Look, Cav, I wasn’t trying to destroy the world,”  Dakota said desperately. He  _ needed  _ Cavendish to understand that.  “I just wanted to-”

 

“I-I know,”  Cavendish said, and there was that look of grief in his eyes again.  Dakota wished that Cavendish wasn’t drunk. It would be much easier for him to tell what was on Cavendish’s mind if their connection wasn’t so messed up.  “I know what you  _ meant  _ to do, but you acted without caring about what the consequences  _ could  _ have been.  Things could have gone horribly wrong.”

 

“But they didn’t,”  Dakota reminded his partner.

 

“But they  _ could have!”   _ Cavendish insisted, not loudly, but forcibly.  Cavendish lifted the bottle with shaking hands and opened it.  Dakota hadn’t really thought much about the bottle before, but something about how Cavendish was handling it told Dakota that something was very,  _ very  _ wrong here.

 

“Wha-what is that?”  Dakota gestured to the bottle.  Cavendish stared down at it like he was holding a gun.  

 

“This?  Oh, it’s...uh,”  Cavendish carelessly dropped the bottle cap, and didn’t even seem to notice.  “It’s just a discontinued soda from the past that I wanted to try.”

 

Dakota flinched and he saw part of his right arm flicker and glitch for a moment.  “W-Wyatt Burp orange soda?” Dakota didn’t have to see the label fully to know that was what Cavendish held in his hands.  Dakota now knew why Cavendish had gone back to 1965, so he could pick up a bottle of the discontinued soda. It didn’t make Dakota feel any better though.  In fact, it scared him to know that his partner apparently hated him so much that he had gone so far out of his way to pick up something that could delete him right out of existence.  “Cav, you...I... _ Why?” _

 

Cavendish frowned and lowered the bottle slightly, though he didn’t loosen his grip on it.  “I-I don’t have a  _ choice,  _ Dakota.  How am I supposed to know that something like this won’t happen again?  That you won't accidentally nearly destroy the world again?” The words hurt, but mostly just because Dakota knew that Cavendish had every right to be concerned.  Milo had been worried about the same thing, but the kid hadn’t thought that the only way to stop something like this from happening again was to shut Dakota down  _ permanently _ .

 

“Look, I get it, okay?  I messed up,” Dakota approached Cavendish, who froze as he neared.  “I know that the risk I took was too big, but you can’t...you can’t destroy me over it.   _ Please. _ ”

 

“I’m sorry, Dakota,”  Cavendish looked physically pained, and Dakota felt like someone had stabbed a blunt knife into his chest.  “I can’t let this happen again.” Cavendish closed his eyes and, to Dakota’s absolute horror, brought the soda to his lips and took a sip.

 

The world stood still.  For a brief, agonizing moment nothing happened and they both began to wonder if it was just a harmless soda when it finally took effect.  Cavendish let out a cry of pain and dropped the bottle, clutching at his head instead. After that, Dakota stopped paying attention to what was going on with Cavendish, too concerned with his own pain.

 

It was  _ excruciating.   _ Dakota clenched his eyes shut tightly and screamed as it felt like his head exploded.  His limbs felt like there was electricity coursing right through them. The pain continued for nearly a minute before it stopped just as suddenly as it had started.  Dakota’s limbs went numb so quickly that he felt his legs give out beneath him. He would have fallen straight to the ground, but he felt arms grab him and lower him down gently.  

 

Dakota couldn’t feel his arms or legs at all, but his head was still killing him, and it felt like the electricity in his limbs had moved into his chest.  Dakota was sure that his body was sparking and glitching all over the place, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He just wanted the pain to end. At the same time though, he didn’t want it to stop because he knew that once it did, it would be all over.   _ He  _ would be over.

 

“I’m sorry, Dakota,”  Cavendish said again. Dakota opened his eyes slightly and squinted up at Cavendish, who was holding him close in his arms.  Dakota just couldn’t tell if Cavendish was restraining him, or trying to embrace him. “I’m so sorry, but there is no other way.  I don’t have a choice.” Cavendish’s voice cracked. He seemed really broken up about this, which Dakota didn’t understand. Why would Cavendish have gone to find Wyatt Burp orange soda, knowing full well that it was the only thing out there that could shut down a Squip for good, if he was going to turn around and get so upset about it anyways?

 

Dakota wished that Cavendish would just hate him.  Dakota was hurt, he was scared of what was going to happen when the pain finally stopped, and the person who had done this to him in the first place was holding him close and seemed to be trying to comfort him.  It just made the pain even worse.

 

“It will be alright,”  Cavendish said quietly as he took off Dakota’s glasses and looked him in the eyes.  “It’ll all be over soon.”

 

Dakota wanted to close his eyes.  He didn’t want to see Cavendish’s sadness anymore.  “C-Cav…” Dakota trailed off. His chest was starting to go numb too.  Cavendish was right, it was all going to be over soon.  

 

Dakota didn’t want it to be over.  He wasn’t ready for this. He didn’t want to…

 

Dakota felt a sudden surge of power in his head, so overwhelming that he closed his eyes at the pain and would have cried out if he’d had the energy to.  Dakota briefly wondered if something had short circuited, but he knew that it hadn’t. This...this was  _ it. _

 

Dakota heard one last thing before everything went silent and stopped.

 

_ “I’m sorry…” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who are unfamiliar with Be More Chill, drinking Mountain Dew Red is how you shut off the Squips (green turns them on, red turns them off). I went with Wyatt Burp orange soda in this instead because if Milo Murphy's Law is going to give us a discontinued soda that can cause much more damage than one would think it should, then of course I'm going to use it.  
> I was halfway through writing this chapter when I'd decided to humanize Cavendish at least a bit, make it a little less like he's just ruthlessly killing his partner. Of course, now I just feel like it's even more cruel, in a way, for Cavendish to be comforting Dakota while in the process of destroying him. I swear, I love Cavendish, I really do, but he does see the world in black and white.


	9. Chapter 9

Something was wrong... _very_ wrong.

Milo frowned and absently watched the television, not really paying attention to what was on. He'd been distracted ever since yesterday, since Dakota had left to go talk to Cavendish. Milo had thought talking things out would be the best thing for Cavendish and Dakota, but now he wasn't so sure. Dakota had been acting really strangely yesterday, and he'd seemed entirely convinced that Cavendish, his partner, his human host, actually  _hated_ him.

Milo knew that people didn't always mean what they said, that fear and anger can mess with people's thoughts, screw with them real badly. If Dakota was anybody else, Milo would think that the person was just afraid, that the person they were talking about didn't  _actually_ hate them. But Dakota was a computer. A scarily strange one, sure, an emotional one, of course, but a computer nonetheless. If Dakota was going to make a claim like  _this,_ whether it was actually true or not, he probably had some convincing evidence to support it.

Milo had been so sure that Dakota should work things out with Cavendish, and to some extent he still believed that. People couldn't work out their differences if they didn't talk things through. But Cavendish had messed with his own head just to mess with Dakota's, and Milo was afraid that he would do even more, just because he was afraid of what Dakota could do.

Milo understood Cavendish's worries, but despite this Milo was more worried about what  _Cavendish_ could do to  _Dakota._ It was why he had asked Dakota if he'd wanted him there when he talked to Cavendish, just in case. And when Dakota had refused, it was why Milo had insisted that Dakota contact him the next day, to let him know that he was alright.

And now, it was the next day, Milo hadn't heard anything from Dakota, and he was getting worried.

Milo tried to be patient. He trusted Dakota to remember his promise and come to see him, and he was trying really hard to trust Cavendish to not do anything that could hurt Dakota, but it was hard. Milo had done his best to wait, but the day was almost over, and there was still no sign of Cavendish. Milo was done with waiting. He had to do something.

"Hey, Diogee, you wanna help me find Dakota?" Milo got up from where he was sitting and knelt on the ground in front of his dog. Dakota reached into his backpack and brought out the clock that Dakota had handed to him after the whole pistachio incident. He had meant to put it up into his room, as there wasn't a lot of ways that he could use a clock. He could use it for this though. Dakota may not have had it for long, but Diogee may still be able to pick up his scent.

Diogee sniffed the clock and whined slightly. He walked in a small circle and then just sat down on the ground. Milo frowned slightly and pet Diogee a little bit. "I know it's going to be hard, but please, I think Dakota needs help."

Diogee barked and jumped to his feet. He ran in another circle before going towards the front door. Diogee hopped up and down as he waited for Milo to open the door for him. Milo breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door, letting the dog out. Diogee ran out into the street and sniffed the air. Diogee then barked and ran confidently to the left. Milo hoped this meant that Diogee had a scent.

Milo ran after his dog for only about five minutes before Diogee ran into the parking lot of a strip mall or something. Diogee barked and ran up some stairs. Diogee stopped in front of a door and began scratching at it. Milo caught up to Diogee and picked him up, trying to quiet him.

"It's okay," Milo pet his dog. "Good boy, Diogee, good boy." Milo swallowed thickly and looked at the door nervously. He hesitated for only a moment before knocking on the door. There was some rustling from inside, but the door wasn't opened. "Dakota? C-Cavendish? A-are you guys in there?"

"...Murphy?" Milo couldn't help but tighten his grip on Diogee, and then immediately felt horrible about it. Things may have been weird between Dakota and Cavendish, but Milo  _knew_ the older man. He shouldn't be scared of him. They were friends. By the time Cavendish opened the door, Milo had been able to get himself to relax slightly. He calmed down even more when he actually saw Cavendish standing there. He really didn't  _look_ mean, or inhuman, or like anybody who would hurt his partner. He just looked tired, and maybe a little bit sad, but not like anybody that Milo should be afraid of.

"Hey, Cavendish," Milo smiled slightly. He tried to look over Cavendish's shoulder to see if Dakota was there.

"Murphy," Cavendish straightened up and seemed to try to control his expression, though he still looked incredibly upset. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see Dakota," Milo said cheerfully, though his grin fell when he saw the miniscule flinch that Cavendish gave. "I talked to him yesterday, and he said he'd talk to me today, but he hasn't come by,"

A guilty expression slipped onto Cavendish's face, and an uneasy feeling settled into his stomach. "Ah, well...uh," Cavendish cleared his throat. "About D-Dakota, I believe there are some things you should know about Dakota."

Milo frowned. "You mean about how he's a Squip, because Dakota already told me about that."

"He-he  _what?!"_ Cavendish paled. He leaned out the door and looked around outside anxiously. After a few tense moments Cavendish seemed to be content that nobody else was out there. He went back inside and pulled Milo in behind him. Once they were safely inside, Cavendish turned to Milo with an almost panicked look in his eyes. "Why would Dakota tell you that he was a Squip? How would that even come up?"

"He was just trying to apologize for involving me in the whole pistachio incident." Milo said. "But he thought that to do that, he would have to explain everything else to me."

Cavendish's eyes widened. "He...he willingly involved a  _child?"_

"I-I thought you already knew about that," Dakota frowned slightly. His stomach was twisting up anxiously again. "Didn't he explain everything to you?" That was the whole reason why Dakota had went to find Cavendish, to talk things through.

"I...well," Cavendish cleared his throat and put his hands behind his back. "We didn't exactly get the chance to discuss things further."

"But, why not?" Milo asked. Cavendish flinched and seemed to be trying to look anywhere but right at him. Milo looked around the small room as well, feeling his breath catching in his throat when he didn't see any sign of Dakota. "Where's Dakota?"

Cavendish opened his mouth, but before he could say anything there was another knock on the door. Milo's first thought was that it was Dakota, but his hopes were quickly dashed when he heard their voice. "Cavendish, open the door, we need to talk," The voice was vaguely familiar, but Milo couldn't place it. They seemed to know Cavendish though, and based on Cavendish's horrified expression, he knew them too.

"Y-yes, of course," Cavendish opened the door for a strangely well-dressed man and woman who had serious expressions. "Brick, Savannah, what a pleasant surprise," Though his tone suggested that it wasn't very pleasant at all.

"Cavendish," Brick said coldly as he forced his way in. Brick seemed to be there with a purpose, but whatever had been on his mind seemed to disappear when he saw Milo. "And...a child?"

Brick's companion, Savannah, came in behind him, and she actually froze when she laid eyes on Milo. For a brief moment, it looked like Savannah's dark eyes flashed yellow or orange, but it was gone so quickly that Milo thought he must have just imagined it. He definitely didn't imagine the strange look of recognition in her eyes though. "Milo?"

Cavendish and Brick both looked at Savannah in shock. "You know this boy?" Brick asked. Cavendish didn't say a word, but he stepped protectively in front of Milo, pushing him behind him. Savannah blinked, and her expression became completely unreadable, but Milo knew what he had seen.

"Milo Murphy," Savannah said, like his name was just a bit of data. "A member of the Murphy family, jynxed with 'Murphy's Law'. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." Milo instinctively drew further behind Cavendish. It was a little unnerving, to hear someone talk about Murphy's law in such an unfeeling, purely factual way.

Cavendish glared at Savannah, who stared coldly right back at him. "Leave the boy alone, you're here to talk to me. Now, what do you want?"

Brick straightened his suit jacket. "We were told that you traveled back in time without proper authorization." Brick said this smugly, like he had caught Cavendish with his hand stuck in the cookie jar. Milo didn't like that smug expression, but he couldn't help but wince sympathetically when Brick yelped in pain. Cavendish flinched too, even worse than Milo did.

"Was that really necessary?" Cavendish looked at Savannah, though Milo didn't entirely understand why. It wasn't like it was  _her_ fault that Brick had gotten hurt...was it?

Savannah glanced at Cavendish, though she immediately looked away from him. "Brick knows better than to let his petty emotions show when he's working. The  _real_ reason we're here is because our records show that your assigned Squip, Dakota, has gone offline. Is this true?"

Milo froze. "Offline? He-he's gone?" Milo stepped away from Cavendish. That wasn't right. It wasn't  _fair._  "What did you do?"

Cavendish turned his attention away from Brick and Savannah as he looked back at Milo, a pained look in his eyes. "I didn't mean for you to find out this way, but I had no choice. You know what Dakota did. I had no guarantee that he wouldn't do it again, and the next time something could have gone incredibly wrong. I couldn't take the chance."

"But, he wouldn't…" Milo shook his head. Diogee whined and buried his head into Milo's chest, trying to comfort his owner.

"We didn't know that for sure," Cavendish said regretfully before looking back towards Brick and Savannah. "I had reason to believe that because of the state of his malfunctions, Dakota was a danger to himself and those around him." This sounded wrong. All of this was wrong.

Savannah still wasn't looking directly at Cavendish, and she seemed to be either angry or upset about something. Brick on the other hand actually seemed to calm down slightly at Cavendish's words. "Ah, yes, Savannah told me about how defective your Squip was. I guess it was just a matter of time before it did something like this."

Savannah scowled slightly and suddenly Brick seemed to get hurt by some unseen force all over again. Last time, it had seemed like a short and simple pain, gone just as quickly as it had shown up. This time though, it seemed to last for a much longer amount of time. Savannah's eyes seemed to glow purple and spark slightly, and at that moment Milo realized that she was a Squip, like Dakota was.

"Ow, ow  _ow,"_ Brick's hands were shaking when he reached over to Savannah and gave her a push, surprising her. "Knock it off!"

Savannah's purple eyes sparked orange suddenly, and Milo was positive that he hadn't imagined it this time, before going back to their normal color. She gave Brick a critical look. "Do not refer to Dakota as an 'it'. If he took the form of a male, than he's a 'he'."

Brick crossed his arms and glared at her. " _It's_ a supercomputer. It doesn't have a gender, so it shouldn't matter if I use pronouns for it."

Savannah didn't back down. "The matter of gender is very prevalent in this time period. Squips may be supercomputers, but they  _look_ human. You'll call attention to yourself if you refer to supercomputers using inappropriate pronouns."

"Alright, alright," Brick said, though he still sounded confused, like he didn't understand why Savannah was making such a big deal out of this. "I won't do it again,"

Cavendish cleared his throat, bringing Brick and Savannah's attention back to him. "I'll be sure to report to Mr. Block about what happened. I just thought that the situation was too urgent to take the time to go through the proper paperwork to deprogram my Squip." Milo fidgeted slightly. He didn't like the way that Cavendish was talking about this. Dakota wasn't just a supercomputer that could be shut down when it wasn't functioning right, he was  _Dakota."_

Savannah finally met Cavendish's eyes. "See that you do. If you want, you may be assigned a new Squip, though if you feel you're not ready for a new one, it's not necessary." Milo frowned slightly. Savannah's tone this whole time had been cold and calculated, and it still was, but there was a really weird look in her eyes. If Milo had to guess, the look meant that Savannah  _really_ didn't want Cavendish to get a new Squip, and Milo didn't entirely understand why. He knew why  _he_ didn't want Cavendish to get a new Squip, but why should Savannah care?

"Well, if that's everything..." Cavendish frowned and looked pointedly at the door. He seemed to want Brick and Savannah to leave.

"Yes, of course," Brick said. After a quick glare from Savannah, Brick offered out his hand for Cavendish, who took it cautiously. "Try not to do things without permission anymore." Brick opened the door and went out. Savannah looked at Milo before she turned and followed her partner out.

Cavendish waited a few minutes after they were gone before turning his attention back to Milo. "Milo, I know you were fond of Dakota, but you must understand-"

"Why should I?" Milo interrupted Cavendish, which wasn't like him, but he felt horrible. He was frustrated, and scared, and he just really wasn't in the mood to listen to Cavendish justify his reasons for basically  _murdering_ Dakota. "You didn't even  _try_ to understand what Dakota was thinking."

Cavendish's expression fell, and Milo almost felt bad about it, but he reminded himself of what Cavendish had done, and that guilt was overpowered by his other emotions. "No, I suppose I didn't," Cavendish sighed and stepped back from Milo, giving him room. "I truly am sorry that you were involved in this whole mess."

Milo frowned and pet Diogee slightly. "It's fine," It wasn't though. Nothing about any of this was fine, but it wasn't in Milo's nature to go out of his way to make someone feel bad. "It's, uh, getting a little late. I think I need to get home,"

"Yes, of course," Cavendish said. "Have a safe trip home, Milo," It was one of the only times that Cavendish called Milo by his first name. Milo kinda wanted to be mad at Cavendish, but the way that he called him by his first name made it a lot harder to do. It showed that Cavendish wasn't unfeeling and completely heartless, he was just a man who had made a mistake while trying to do what he thought was best.

Milo gave Cavendish a small smile. "I'll see you later, Cavendish." And Milo meant his words. He planned on seeing Cavendish again in the future, even if he was a little upset with him right now. Milo went out the door and made his way down the stairs. He saw a familiar looking limo in the parking lot, and Brick was leaning against it, looking impatient. Milo suddenly remembered why Brick had seemed vaguely familiar to him at first. He had seen Brick and Savannah for a moment just before he had travelled to the future with Cavendish and Dakota. Milo guessed that Brick and Savannah were time travelers too, and this limo was  _their_ vehicle.

Milo didn't see Savannah anywhere though. He didn't worry a lot about that, but Diogee barked and squirmed in Milo's arms until he let his grip loosen enough to let him jump to the ground. Diogee rushed down the stairs and ran around the corner of the building.

"Diogee, wait!" Milo ran after his dog, but froze in his tracks when he found Diogee sniffing Savannah, who was kneeling in front of the dog, petting him. Diogee seemed to not know how he felt about Savannah, which was weird, because Diogee either really liked somebody, or he didn't like them at all. Milo couldn't think of anybody else that Diogee was on the fence about.

"Milo," Savannah stood up. "I really need to talk to you."

Milo was taken aback. Savannah sounded a lot different now than she had while talking to Cavendish. There was a lot of emotion, and some desperation in her tone now. "Okay...what's going on?"

"Look, don't freak out, okay? Because I promise, I can explain  _everything."_ Savannah held up her hands slightly defensively, and something about this whole thing felt incredibly  _off._ He didn't know Savannah all that well, but she struck him as really cold and professional.  _This_ just sounded really casual and informal, like Savannah was a friend instead of a relative stranger.

"Explain what?" Milo said cautiously. The only reason he wasn't running in the opposite direction was because Diogee seemed to have decided that he liked Savannah and was currently happily running around her.

Savannah smirked slightly, an expression that didn't seem completely natural on her face. Her eyes sparked orange again, except this time the spark didn't go away in an instant. The orange color lingered. Her eyes, the expression on her face, the way that she was talking to him, it all felt incredibly, impossibly familiar to Milo.

Savannah waited patiently as Milo tried to piece things together. It actually took him a very short time to realize what was going on, but it took a little longer for him to actually accept that it was real, that he wasn't just grasping at straws because he was upset and in denial.

"...Dakota?" Milo looked at Savannah...Dakota...the Squip with wide eyes. Her, his,  _their_ eyes softened ever so slightly.

"Hey, kid,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel so mean, leaving you guys off on a cliffhanger last chapter, only to have one this chapter too. It's just so fun though, not to mention quite dramatic.


	10. Chapter 10

Dakota understood how he had ended up okay, even though Cavendish had definitely done his best to completely delete him out of existence. He had almost succeeded, but ironically what had saved Dakota was the very thing that had motivated Cavendish to take things as far as he had. Dakota's defective systems.

Dakota had previously formed a connection with Savannah. He had done it in the first place because she had wanted to keep an eye on him, make sure that he didn't do anything he wasn't supposed to do, which, really, hadn't worked out all that well for her. At first Dakota had thought that them having a connection would basically be like they were on the same network, but still two separate systems. That was what normally happened between Squips, except Dakota wasn't a normal Squip.

Dakota had overtaken Savannah's systems when she had tried to make the initial connection. He'd never broken the connection that they'd had with each other, which Dakota was so glad for. Because apparently instead of just hacking in and out of Savannah's systems, he had completely taken it over. He really  _had_ overridden Savannah's systems, and replaced some of Savannah's coding with his own. Neither of them had known of it at all until after Dakota was supposed to be deleted. The physical Squip in Cavendish's head had been deprogrammed, so all of Dakota's awareness shifted to the bit of his personal programming that he had left with Savannah.

She had been surprised to suddenly have Dakota in her conscience. Savannah probably would have tried to kick him out, but even though it was her programming in the first place, Dakota had more control than she did. It was only because of this that Savannah hadn't immediately reported him to block. Trying to take control of another Squip was completely against the rules. Whether Cavendish had stepped out of line when trying to delete him or not, Mr. Block would have personally seen to it that Dakota was wiped out for good for hacking into his superior's systems.

Savannah hadn't wanted Dakota to be there with her, and he had no big desire to be one with her either. Dakota hadn't really meant to take control of her, but he wasn't about to let go of that control, because he knew that if he did it would mean the end of him. He didn't want to go. He may be a computer, but he was scared of just not existing. This was something that Savannah didn't, and couldn't, understand.

Because Dakota hadn't planned this whole thing, he had no game plan of what to do. At first, he hadn't really meant to do anything at all, other than leave Savannah to do her normal thing. He made sure that she didn't do anything that could hurt him, but other than that she was her own Squip. Dakota had even let her go with Brick to talk to Cavendish.

Dakota hadn't wanted anything to do with this conversation. He wasn't ready to face Cavendish again, and he didn't think he would ever be. Dakota had wanted to just tune out the entire interaction and hand the reins over to Savannah. That little plan had gone out the window when he'd seen Milo there. The kid wasn't supposed to be there. He wasn't supposed to learn what had happened to Dakota.

And yet Dakota had never been happier to see anybody in his life.

Milo had been ecstatic to learn that Dakota was okay. Of course, he wanted to know what happened to him, but unfortunately Dakota couldn't explain it all to him at that moment. Savannah had a job to do, and Brick would get suspicious if she just walked away from him. Dakota had to wait until their work was done for the day, and then he could talk things through with Milo.

The kid was taking all of this incredibly well. Milo had been so upset after hearing about what Cavendish had done to Dakota, and if anybody deserved to know what was going on, it was Milo. Still, when he was asked to wait for a few hours, Milo had immediately agree. Even though Dakota had broken his last promise to check back in with Milo, the kid was trusting him to come see him, and Dakota wasn't going to let him down. Not this time.

It had taken longer than Dakota would have wanted for Savannah to be convinced that they'd done enough work to not draw any suspicion if they left for a few hours. As soon as Savannah had given the 'go ahead', Dakota had taken complete control and gone to find Milo. It was already night by this time, not unreasonably late, but not all that early either. Dakota in Savannah's body made his way to Milo's house, where the boy had told him he would be.

Dakota found Milo sitting on the grass in his backyard. The boy was picking at the grass, his pet dog curled up on his lap. Diogee heard Dakota before Milo saw him. The dog perked up and barked when he heard Dakota. Diogee ran over to him and started scratching at Savannah's dress, getting dirt and small scratches all over it, not that Dakota cared about that.

"You came!" Milo got to his feet, a relieved look of glee in his eyes. Dakota felt bad about keeping him waiting. He'd put the kid through enough already.

"'Course I came, Milo," Dakota said.

"So, uh, what happened to you?" Milo asked. Dakota didn't know just how specific Milo was talking here, but he wasn't about to tell him exactly what had happened between him and Cavendish. Dakota himself didn't want to think about that, he wasn't about to subject Milo to it.

So instead, Dakota explained how he had found himself in Savannah's form. Milo took it as well as he'd taken all of this.

"Is it hurting her?" Milo asked somewhat cautiously, like he was afraid to hear the answer. "For you to take control?"

"Uh, well, it's not fun for her," Dakota said honestly. "She doesn't like that I'm here, but no, it doesn't hurt her."

"Are you sure?" Milo asked dubiously.

Dakota could feel what was going through Savannah's mind. There was no pain, not physical or emotional, just irritation. "Yeah, I'm sure. I promise. She just kinda wants me gone." Milo did what Dakota hadn't expected, he relaxed and actually seemed to believe him.

"Oh, well, that's good," Milo smiled slightly. "So, do you have an idea of how to get out of Savannah's body?"

"Oh, no," Dakota rubbed the back of his neck...well,  _Savannah's_ neck. He felt her become suddenly more aware. It felt like Savannah was going through her database. It could take Dakota hours to go through all his data, but almost immediately Savannah seemed to find what she was looking for. "Actually, excited about it. "think there might be a way," Dakota wasn't really sure which of them was saying it, him or Savannah.

Milo hadn't even heard the idea yet, but he looked excited about it anyways. "What is it?"

' _Yeah, what is it?'_ Dakota thought to Savannah. He suddenly saw what Savannah had found in her searching. It was a study on Squips, showing that if a Squip needed more power, it could outsource by hacking an unactivated Squip's programming, and then actually be the Squip partner of two or more people at a time.

' _Cavendish has cut you off,'_  Savannah thought bluntly. ' _But that shouldn't stop you from starting fresh with someone new,'_

' _No, I guess not,'_  Dakota considered Savannah's suggestion. ' _But who would that someone be?'_  Even as Dakota said it, he had someone come to his mind. After what happened with Cavendish, there was just a single individual that Dakota would feel comfortable with.

' _There are plenty of new time travelers that haven't been assigned their Squips yet,'_  Savannah said. ' _We can…'_

"No," Dakota said out loud, using his power over Savannah to silence her. Milo stared at him in confusion, but Dakota didn't bother explaining himself. He just continued on talking to Milo as though he and Savannah had never cut in with their own personal conversation. "Savannah says that I can become someone else's Squip partner, but really, I don't feel like joining another time traveler. Most of them are a bunch of sticks in the mud who won't stand for any kind of breaking the rules. Believe it or not, Cavendish was one of the more laid back of the bunch, and he still...well…"

"I get it," Milo said, an understanding look in his eyes. "...Can you partner with someone who isn't a time traveler?"

"It's possible," Dakota said. "Not technically allowed, but I'm pretty flexible about the rules."

Milo grinned in amusement. "Yeah, I guess you are,"

""Listen, Milo, I have a, well, an idea," Dakota said, and he could feel himself becoming nervous, and he didn't know where those feelings were coming from. Maybe he was nervous about whether this plan would work at all. Maybe it was mild anxiety about what programming himself into a new Squip could do to him, or what it could do to Milo. Maybe he was scared that the kid would reject him, or even that he would gladly accept it. He was just a bit nervous about this whole thing.

Milo waited for Dakota to continue, but he didn't. "What's the idea?" Milo pushed.

Dakota grimaced and just let it all out at once. "I-I want  _you_ to be my new partner, or host, or whatever you want to call it."

"M-me?" Milo looked taken aback. He looked completely shocked, but after a moment that shock turned into a look that Dakota couldn't interpret. "You trust me to do that?"

"Right now, kid, you're the  _only_ one I trust," Dakota said honestly. "You know what I am, you know what I've  _done,_  and you still want me around."

"Of course I want you around," Milo said. "If you want me to have your Squip, I'd be happy to do that for you,"

"Are you sure?" Dakota raised an eyebrow. "I mean, if you change your mind later you know you can always shut it off, but-"

"No," Milo said sternly. "I'm never going to do that. You're my friend. "I don't want to hurt you,"

Dakota knew that Milo wouldn't. It wasn't in the kid's nature. He truly was 'good', sweet, put others before himself. If Milo said he would take Dakota's Squip, then he would keep it.

"Alright, kid," Dakota gave him a small smile in appreciation. "I have to go get the Squip, and something to activate it. I'll be back in half an hour, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Milo said, though he looked a little nervous, and Dakota couldn't blame him for that. It could be a terrifying thing, to have somebody promise to meet you, only to have them disappear without a word. Dakota wasn't going to let that happen again though. Or, at least, he would do his best to keep it from happening, for Milo's sake...and for his own.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Dakota pet Diogee's head before turning to leave. Milo made a noise like he wanted to say something else, but he didn't. The kid just watched silently as Dakota left his backyard, both of them hoping desperately that he really would come back.

Once Dakota was halfway down the street, away from Milo's house, he let his tight slip on Savannah loosen. She immediately got at him. ' _What are you doing?! You can't give a Squip to a child.'_

"It's not going to hurt him," Dakota said, and he was actually fairly certain of that. "You know the Squip was tested on a bunch of kids, and it worked for them just as well as for anybody else," Granted, the prototype Squips had caused quite a lot of trouble, but that was more because of what they'd been programmed to do. 'Make your host happy', and when you're a teenager, sometimes what you think will make you happy could very well ruin your life, and Squips in general weren't exactly the best moral compasses.

' _That isn't the point,'_ Savannah said coldly. ' _Squips are the property of the Bureau of Time Travel, and-'_

"I'm not the property of anyone," Dakota growled. "I'm not asking for your permission. I'm doing this whether you want me to do it or not."

Savannah was silent after this. Dakota didn't know if this was because she knew there was no point to arguing with him, or if he was subconsciously keeping her quiet. He didn't think deeply about it. He had work to do.

Unlike what Dakota and Cavendish had used to do, Savannah and Brick didn't have a permanent place to stay in this time period. They usually travelled back to their own time at the end of the day. If that wasn't possible, they would spend the night at a hotel. Brick was currently fast asleep at one of those hotels, and would stay that way until morning. Dakota was glad that he didn't have to deal with the man, or pretend that he was just Savannah. Still, he had to do something that he wasn't looking forward to.

He had to travel to the future, because that was where the Squips were.

Dakota made his way to Brick and Savannah's time travel vehicle. He didn't have the keys, but he didn't need them. He  _was_  the key. All Dakota had to do was put his hand on the ignition, let some sparks fly, and the vehicle was on for him. Dakota pushed a few buttons and he was off for the year 2175.

As Dakota travelled through the timestream he began to think of a way to sneak into the B.o.T.T.'s headquarters. They had a lot of surveillance there. Dakota would have to be sneaky. Maybe he could hack into their systems and mess with their camera systems. Any Squip in the area would have to be dealt with, because they'd surely be able to fix anything that he messed with. Dakota would deprogram any Squip he came across to get what he needed.

At least, it was fun to think of things that way, but Dakota knew that none of this was necessary. Savannah was the Squip of a time traveler first class. Nobody would question her coming in and going down to the labs. They'd all just assume that she was there because she'd been ordered to be, and in a way, she was, just not by the B.o.T.T.

Dakota got to the future and immediately made his way to headquarters. Just like he'd thought, nobody gave him a second glance. He just walked right in there, undetected, because for all anybody else knew, he wasn't the defective Squip Dakota, he was Savannah, the best of the best.

Dakota was able to walk right down to the labs, where they kept their Squip pills. Nobody was down there, because people only had to be around the non-functioning Squips when new agents were coming in, and Dakota still had nearly two weeks until that happened. He was basically in the clear.

Dakota hacked into the sorry excuse for security they had for the room they kept the Squips in and went in. The Squip pills that weren't currently in the process of being developed were kept in a showbox. Dakota didn't know why things were done in such a rudimentary way, but it definitely made it easier to grab a Squip unnoticed, so he wasn't going to complain.

Dakota grabbed one of the pills and put the shoebox back exactly where he found it. Before leaving, Dakota went to the few computer systems in the room, hacked into them, and made just a tiny little adjustment. The B.o.T.T. created so many Squips that no single person bothered to keep track of everything. That's what computers were for, after all. But computers could be swayed in a way that humans never could be.

Now, as far as the B.o.T.T. was concerned, the pill that Dakota held in his hands had never even existed at all. He was in the clear. He needed just one more thing, and Dakota could get it from any vending machine or convenience store back in Milo's time.

Dakota left the labs, briefly pausing to erase any trace that he'd been in the labs at all. He knew that people didn't really check the time logs for the labs, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Dakota immediately made his way back out of the B.o.T.T. and back to the time vehicle. Dakota drove back through the timestream to Milo's timeline.

Dakota deleted the evidence of his latest time travel trip, and he was in the clear. Dakota left the time vehicle and made his way to the nearest convenience store. He bought just one thing, a bottle of soda, and he was ready to return to Milo.

From Dakota's point of view, it had been a little more than half an hour since he had left Milo's place, but thanks to the wonders of time travel, it hadn't even been half that long. Dakota knew he would probably be back sooner rather than later, but he had preferred to overestimate how long it would take and be early than get stalled by something and worry Milo because he was late.

Dakota doubted that Milo was still in the backyard, waiting for him. He probably would have gone back inside to wait, which probably made things easier. Dakota just went to the front door and knocked. Fortunately, Milo was the one who opened the door, and he looked thrilled to see Dakota there.

"You're back!" Milo exclaimed. "Did you get what you needed?"

"I did," Dakota held up the pill. " _This_ is the Squip," Dakota handed the soda to Milo. "And  _that_ activates it."

"A soda?" Milo looked confused.

"Trust me, this stuff works," Dakota looked at the Squip in his hands and downloaded his programming into it. He handed it to Milo. "the Squip activating isn't really going to be a pleasant feeling, but don't worry, I've taken that into consideration."

"What do you mean?" Milo asked.

"Squips are computers. Your brain is going to be getting a lot of information attacking it at once. You'll basically be overloaded." Dakota said. "For some people, the pain is barely a headache," That was how it had been for Cavendish. "For others though, it's excruciating." Normally there was no telling just what someone's experience would be, but Dakota thought it was a pretty safe bet that Murphy's Law would not make things easy for Milo. The pain wouldn't last forever, but Dakota didn't want Milo to have to go through that.

"After you take the Squip, I'm going to influence your mind to get you to go to sleep." Dakota explained. "I used to do this to Cavendish all the time. It won't hurt you, you won't even feel it happen at all, you'll just fall asleep. If you're asleep, you won't feel any potential pain the Squip may cause you. And by the time you wake up, it'll be completely activated, and I should be back, just like you remember me, okay?"

Milo swallowed, looking slightly nervous, but he nodded anyways. "Okay," Milo put the pill in his mouth and swallowed it down with the soda. Nothing happened right away, because it took time for the Squip to fully make its way into the bloodstream, and then still more time for it to process all of the information it needed from the host's mind.

"Go to bed," Dakota said. Though it took time for the Squip to fully activate, Dakota could tell that he already had at least some influence over the child. Not a lot, but it was enough to get Milo to sleep. "I'll see you later, I promise,"

"See you later," Milo gave him an uneasy smile before going back inside and closing the door. Dakota didn't go in after him, though neither of them really wanted to be away from each other at that moment. If Dakota looked like himself, it would probably be fine, because both Milo and his older sister could vouch for him, but he looked like Savannah, so that wouldn't really work. That was fine though. There was no need to keep Milo company when he was going to be asleep.

Besides, Savannah hadn't seemed that happy with Dakota's plan to become Milo's Squip, and he had to make sure that she didn't cause trouble for him in the future. It was incredibly easy to rewrite a Squip's memory code. And if Dakota did this right, Savannah wouldn't even realize that she had memories missing at all.

After making sure that Savannah didn't have a clue what he had done, though he'd made sure that she retained her knowledge about Cavendish deprogramming Dakota, because it would be suspicious if she didn't know that, Dakota sent her back to Brick. Of course, because he didn't want her to know just how much control he could have over her, he had to basically relinquish any control he had as he retreated to the back of her mind.

It was a little scary to be so dissociated and cut off from everything around him. He couldn't see, hear, or feel anything. Dakota couldn't even explore his databases to pass the time, because he couldn't access his own, and if he went through Savannah's she would know it. He just had to wait it out.

It was really had to tell the passage of time when you're just  _existing._  Eventually though, Dakota felt something tickle at the back of his mind. Slowly he felt a connection form between him and Milo's Squip. It started as just a little at first, not enough to do anything with, but it grew stronger until it was enough for Dakota to cling onto. He had his exit.

It was effortless, really, to get to Milo. He was already in the kid's mind, it was just a matter of sending his main systems and consciousness to Milo's Squip. It was also incredibly easy for Dakota to manifest himself into a physical form. After all, he knew that Milo just wanted him as he'd known him. That was simple.

Dakota opened his eyes and found himself in what looked like Milo's bedroom. The kid was sleeping, like he should be. Dakota was relieved that Milo looked okay. He'd been really worried. With his concerns put to rest, Dakota turned his attention to himself. He looked just like he remembered being. His tracksuit was the same. He had the same gold chain necklace on. He even had his sunglasses in his pocket. Though thinking of his sunglasses, Dakota remembered something else about his physical appearance that he wasn't entirely sure would be the same or not.

Dakota looked around Milo's bedroom, looking for a mirror or something that would make a reflection. It didn't take him too long to find something. It was a little too dark in the room for a normal person to be able to make out the color of their eyes, but most people's eyes didn't spark. One of Dakota's eyes was hard to make out the color of, because the eye itself was probably too dark, but the other one, it was sparking and glowing a bright orange, just like it usually did...just like it should be.

Dakota had no idea whether he was relieved or disappointed by this. On one hand, this meant that he was still himself. He hadn't changed. On the other hand, it meant that there hadn't just been something wrong with the programming in Cavendish's Squip pill, but that there was just something wrong with Dakota.

There was the sound of rustling behind him. Dakota turned to see that Milo was still asleep, but he was tossing and turning a little bit. He was still sleeping, but it was an uneasy sleep. Dakota's guess had been right, it seemed like for Milo the activation of the Squip was a painful process. He was glad that he had foreseen this and made sure that Milo was asleep. Dakota used their connection to persuade Milo's mind to go into a deeper sleep, just in case.

Once Dakota was confident that Milo wasn't going to wake up on him, Dakota settled himself into the chair at Milo's desk. All he could do now was wait, but this time he didn't mind it so much. In fact, seeing Milo sleep Dakota decided to follow his example. It had been a really long day, and Dakota  _had_ used a lot of power to keep his control over Savannah, not to mention all of the hacking he'd done that day. He needed a break, and he actually felt safe enough to allow himself to rest.

So Dakota closed his eyes, shut out everything around him, and went into sleep mode for the night.


	11. Chapter 11

Dakota's systems came back online with a start as a rock came crashing through the window. Dakota gave a cry of alarm and leapt back instinctively, temporarily forgetting that he couldn't be physically injured.

"Well, at least it didn't hit me this time," Milo, who had been startled awake just like Dakota had been, sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Milo began to get out of bed, but froze when he saw Dakota there in his room.

"You...you're here!" Milo grinned excitedly and rushed down the ladder. Milo then rushed towards Dakota and hugged him without warning. Dakota was surprised, but he didn't push the kid away. "You're okay!"

"I told you I would be," Dakota smiled.

"Yeah, I know," Milo pulled back and rubbed a hand through his hair. "I just…" Milo's grin slipped. "...I was so worried that you were gone forever, and I…" Milo trailed off and looked at the ground. He seemed to be a little sheepish, but mostly still upset. "I thought it was my fault."

"What?" Dakota looked at the boy in alarm. "How would it be your fault? You didn't do anything. You weren't even there."

"Well, not  _my_ fault, but, you know, Murphy's Law," Milo shrugged. "You didn't want to talk to Cavendish, but I convinced you to go. I thought 'what's the worst that could happen?' I didn't think that Cavendish would…"

"Neither did I," Dakota said quietly. He hadn't wanted to even consider it a possibility. "But Murphy's Law didn't  _make_ Cavendish do anything. Bad things happen, whether a Murphy's around or not. Especially when there are people involved who are scared and acting brashly."

"If you say so," Milo said, though he didn't sound entirely convinced. Dakota was about to continue trying to convince Milo that none of this was his fault when the door was opened.

"Milo, I heard talking in here," A woman who Dakota had never seen before, but he still instantly recognized her as Milo's mom, poked her head in the room. She looked at Dakota in surprise. "Who's your friend?" She wasn't immediately kicking Dakota out, but she was still curious and slightly concerned, which was understandable. Dakota was a complete stranger to Brigette, and he was hanging out in her teenage son's room first thing in the morning. As if that wasn't bad enough, Milo's window was broken, and the boy was still in his pajamas. It wasn't that much of a stretch for Dakota to be concerned that she might think he was a threat.

Fortunately, Milo immediately came to his defense. "This is Dakota. Me and Sara are friends with him," Mentioning the older sister. Not a bad strategy. "He showed up last night because his partner tried to hurt him really badly, and he didn't know where else to go," Huh, not only was it the truth, but Milo was also playing the sympathy card. He was pretty good at this.

Brigette's expression softened. She still looked concerned, though Dakota got the sense that it was now directed more towards him than her child. "Are you hurt? Is there anyone we can call for you?"

"Physically, I'm fine," Dakota said. He couldn't say he wasn't hurt, because that would be a lie, and they'd all know it. "But I, uh, I really don't have anyone else right now,"

"Well, you're welcome to stay here for as long as you want," Brigette said with a kind smile, not even the smallest hint of hesitation in her eyes. "Now, why don't you boys come down for breakfast?"

"Alright," Milo said excitedly as he followed his mom out of the room. Dakota followed behind them. They went downstairs and Dakota was greeted by a hyper and barking Diogee. Dakota smiled at the dog. No matter what form he was in, the dog recognized him, and was always quick to make him feel welcome.

"Hey, Diogee," Dakota bent down and picked up the dog, who excitedly began to lick him. Brigette looked amused.

"Sorry about Diogee," Brigette said. "When he likes you, he's not afraid to show it."

"He's a good dog," Dakota said. The dog began squirming in his arms, so Dakota put him down again and watched as Diogee ran into the kitchen, probably to find some breakfast for himself. Dakota followed him to see Sara and Milo's dad already in the kitchen, eating pancakes.

"Martin, Sara, we have a guest," Brigette said as she came up behind Dakota. "He may be staying with us for a bit,"

Sara looked at Dakota in confusion. "Did you have troubles with your job?" Milo must have told her that Cavendish and Dakota were time travelers, and that the whole pistachio thing had only happened because of a 'small' disregard for the rules.

"Nah," Dakota shrugged. "Partner troubles," Sara looked like she was dying to ask more, but one stern look from her brother silenced her. She was at least trying to give him some privacy, which was nice of her.

Brigette took a plate of pancakes and handed it to Milo. She looked at Dakota. "Did you want some?"

"Uh, no thanks," Dakota went through his systems really quickly, trying to think of what he could say. He was a supercomputer, he didn't eat food. But Milo's family didn't know what he was, and they would get concerned and probably suspicious if he continually refused to eat. Unless, of course, he had a good reason. "I don't really like eating around other people. My partner kinda tried to poison me,"

Milo and Sara's eyes widened. Their parents looked concerned, but the teenagers had met Cavendish, they couldn't imagine him doing anything like that. Dakota hadn't been lying, he'd just stretched the truth a bit. If Brigette and Martin thought that Dakota was worried about being poisoned again, they might not bother him if he didn't join them for their meals.

Brigette and Martin exchanged concerned glances before Brigette turned back towards Dakota, her eyes full of worry. "Are you  _sure_ you don't want us to call someone?"

"Like the police," Martin suggested.

"No!" Dakota said too quickly, desperately. He felt a little embarrassed, though he wasn't sure if it was because of his reaction, or what he was about to say. "I don't want him to get into trouble. Besides, he's got friends in high places. Getting the police involved will just be more trouble," That much was true. The B.o.T.T. had a lot of resources dedicated to keeping their agents, no matter how low ranked and insignificant they were, out of trouble with the law. They'd make sure Cavendish didn't get in trouble. Dakota, on the other hand, would probably be discovered, and he'd be in  _huge_ trouble.

Brigette and Martin didn't look entirely convinced, but fortunately they didn't try to convince him anymore. "Well, if you need anything, just say the word," Martin said, and he seemed to mean it. Dakota nodded. He didn't know if he'd take them up on their offer, but it was nice that it was out there.

There was a knock on the door. Milo jumped up to get it, even though he was still in his pajamas. Not wanting to be far from his new host, Dakota followed Milo to see that it was the boy's friends, Melissa and Zack.

"You guys are here early," Milo commented. Melissa crossed her arms and quirked her eyebrows playfully.

"You were acting weird yesterday," Melissa said. "We were worried something had happened."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Milo said, sounding sincerely apologetic, even though everybody had their off days. "Honestly, I was worried something had happened too," Dakota felt a twinge of guilt. Milo was a good kid, and Dakota kept on dragging him into trouble that he didn't deserve. The kid deserved better than him.

Zack looked past Milo to Dakota. "What are  _you_ doing here?" He didn't sound judgemental, just confused. "Last I saw you, you were kinda drunk,"

Dakota frowned. His memory was a little shaky of that incident, but he  _did_ remember unexpectedly speaking Japanese to the kids, because Cavendish had gotten drunk and messed with his systems. "I wasn't drunk, I was just...having a bad day."

"Dakota's going to be living here now," Milo explained cheerfully. "He needed a break from Cavendish,"

Dakota gave Milo a strange look. "Milo, 'a break' implies that I'm going to be going back to Cavendish, and the chances of that happening are 0.086%. He hates me. He tried to delete me. He doesn't even know that I'm still around. I don't think he'd react very well if he found out that I wasn't gone. Especially if he knew that I'm only here because of you."

Milo didn't look as worried as Dakota was. "He really seemed upset about what he did. I think if we just give both of you time to calm down, he'll be more willing to listen."

"Yeah, but what if he's not?" Dakota asked. "What if he just tries to do it all over again."

Milo frowned. "I told you, I'm not going to let that happen,"

"Uh, what's going on here?" Zack looked from Milo to Dakota.

"Are you in trouble?" Melissa asked, though Dakota didn't know exactly who she was talking to, him or Milo.

Milo turned back to his friends, looking a little sheepish about momentarily forgetting them. "It's a long story,"

"We've got all day," Melissa said, the fierce look in her eyes making it clear that she wasn't about to take no for an answer. "Spill,"

"Uh…" Milo looked at Dakota with uncertainty. The boy didn't want to do anything that Dakota wasn't comfortable with. The thing was, Dakota was conflicted. His initial Squip programming made him want to keep the B.o.T.T.'s secrets. He had been created to be loyal to them. The thing was, he was also loyal to Milo, because the kid was the only person who was actually giving him a real chance. And the B.o.T.T. had never done anything for Dakota the way that Milo had. They definitely would never give him a chance like the kid did.

So what truly made Dakota comfortable, what he wanted, was whatever Milo wanted most. Milo was kind and loyal. He'd be willing to go along with whatever Dakota said, but he also didn't want to keep such a big secret from his friends.

"Go ahead and tell them," Dakota said. It wasn't really smart to try to tell Milo's parents the complete truth, but his friends were younger and more open-minded. They also already knew about time travel. Zack and Melissa would probably take little convincing, and Milo really trusted them, so Dakota did too.

"What about Sara?" Milo asked, though it sounded more like a suggestion than anything. "She's really curious, and she won't stop bugging you until you tell her what's going on,"

"Yeah, we can fill her in too," Dakota said. "But I don't want this to become public knowledge, okay?"

"We won't tell anyone," Melissa said quickly. She looked excited about learning about some big conspiracy. Zack seemed more nervous than anything, but his curiosity was stronger than his caution, so he nodded in agreement.

"Great," Milo grinned eagerly. "I should probably go get dressed first. You two go help yourselves to some pancakes, and we'll meet in the backyard in a few minutes." Melissa and Zack eagerly agreed and the two of them made their way into the kitchen as Milo went upstairs to his room. Naturally, Dakota followed his new partner upstairs. Maybe later he would feel okay about being away from Milo, but at the moment that wasn't the case. Dakota tried to tell himself that he just liked being around the kid. He refused to admit it was because of what Cavendish had done when  _they'd_  been away from each other. He wasn't scared...he wasn't.

If Milo had any problems with Dakota following him, he didn't voice them. He didn't even think them very loudly, because Dakota couldn't sense the slightest bit of hesitation or annoyance from the boy.

As Milo went into his room, Dakota waited out in the hallway. He may want to be close to the kid, but that didn't mean that he was beyond the point of giving Milo some privacy. Even though Milo was changing, he still took advantage of the fact that they were alone to talk about some things that they couldn't really go deep into around the others.

"When you said that Cavendish poisoned you...you weren't serious, were you?" Milo asked like he was afraid to hear the answer.

Dakota sighed and leaned against the wall. "It's complicated, but yeah, I was serious," Dakota didn't really want to talk about this. After what Cavendish had done, this felt like a huge mistake, but Dakota wanted to be completely honest with Milo. If he was going to trust the kid, he wanted the kid to know that he trusted him.

"You know how you used a soda to activate the Squip?" Dakota asked, though it was more of a rhetorical question, as he didn't wait for an actual answer. "Well, they're deactivated in a similar way, except with a soda that was discontinued years ago."

"Maybe...maybe it was an accident?" Milo suggested cautiously, though he didn't sound all that confident. Even though the kid couldn't see him, Dakota shook his head.

"He went back in time specifically to get this soda," Dakota said. "He knew exactly what he was doing. And he…" Dakota felt his powers spark, influenced by his emotions. "He did it right in front of me,"

Milo was quiet for a moment. "...Did it hurt? I mean, physically." They both knew that emotionally it was torture.

Dakota closed his eyes as the memory came back to him. The worst part of course had been the fact that Cavendish had done it at all, as well as the way that Cavendish had tried to comfort him, like it would make up for it. But physically (At least, as physically as Dakota could feel), it hadn't really been a walk in the park. Dakota vividly remembered the searing pain in his head, the electricity running through his body, and the terrifying numb that had followed it.

"Yeah, it was pretty bad," Dakota admitted quietly. The door opened and Milo came out, fully dressed. Wordlessly the boy wrapped his arms around Dakota and just hugged him again. The kid was really upset.

"You don't deserve any of this," Milo said, and he sounded so sure of himself that it was hard to argue with. "If you really don't want to try to talk to Cavendish, I wouldn't blame you,"

"Thanks, kid," Dakota returned Milo's embrace this time. "But if you really want me to work things out with Cavendish, I'll give it a try,"

Milo stiffened and tightened his grip on Dakota. "Of course I want you to talk to Cavendish, but I don't want you to do it because it's what  _I_  want. I want you to do what  _you_  want."

Dakota frowned in confusion as he thought about it. "...I want you to be happy."

Milo pulled away and reached up to take Dakota's glasses off so he could look him in the eyes. "I don't want you around because I want you to serve me and always put me first. I want you here because you're my friend. You deserve to be happy, and you deserve to be yourself."

Dakota grimaced, for the first time wishing that he was wearing his sunglasses. He felt vulnerable without them. "I don't think I know how to do that,"

"That's okay," Milo gave him a reassuring smile. At this point, Dakota didn't think there was anything that would scare Milo away from him. "We'll figure that out together." Together, huh? Dakota really liked the sound of that.

"So, you ready to go talk to the others?" Milo stretched, though a moment later his grin slipped. "Unless you only said you were okay with talking about this because you knew it was what I wanted,"

"Well, that was part of it," Dakota put his hands in his pockets. "Honestly, I don't know if I'm ready to open up to more people, but...but I  _like_ that I trust you. I want to trust your friends too, so, yeah, I really do want to tell them."

"If you're sure," Milo said slowly. He looked pleased though, which Dakota was glad about. He wasn't entirely sure if Milo was happy because they were explaining things to his friends, or because Dakota had opened up a bit about what he really wanted. Either way, they were both feeling pretty content about this whole situation.

Dakota was still really hurt and a little angry about what Cavendish had done to him, but despite this, and the poor circumstances that brought him here, Dakota was glad that he was here with Milo. He was a good kid, a good friend. Milo was more than Dakota deserved. He was going to do his best to make things up to the kid, prove to both of them that this wasn't a mistake.


	12. Chapter 12

Working with Milo was interesting, to say the very least. Definitely different from working with Cavendish. The time traveler was cold and distant from other people. Cavendish was far from uncaring, but he wasn't exactly the best at knowing what was the best thing to do in social situations. Cavendish did actually care about people, but he was also really ambitious. There were very few things that Cavendish would let get in his way.

Milo on the other hand seemed to care about people more than anything else. Sure, the kid was a hard worker, and he got things done well, but the kid never worked harder on anything than he did to help those around him, especially his family and friends.

Dakota had known this even before he'd become Milo's Squip, but there was a big difference between analyzing evidence and actually seeing it happen for himself. Dakota knew that Milo was kind and caring, and he got to experience it for himself almost immediately, when the boy had been more than happy to act as his host. Dakota then saw it again and again as Milo vouched for him, defended him, encouraged him. Milo saw the best in Dakota, even though he'd been given no reason to even try to look for it.

Honestly, Dakota was getting spoiled with how Milo treated him, because once his friends had been told the truth of just what he was, he'd had a hard time finding a moment's peace.

Melissa couldn't seem to care less about the fact that he was from the future, or that he'd been the one responsible for the whole pistachion thing. What seemed to interest her most about Dakota was the fact that he was a Squip, a super computer. Every time they saw each other she had a new 'challenge' for him. She quizzed him about random tidbits of history, and tried to stump him with lengthy math problems. She'd yet to ask Dakota a question he couldn't answer. He had access to every history database out there. As for math, Dakota was a supercomputer, he was technically  _made_ of math.

Sara still seemed focused on the fact that Dakota had apparently served as the inspiration for one of one of the most interesting and mysterious characters in her favorite show. Dakota had never watched Doctor Zone before, but he still knew every single detail about it. He probably knew more about the show than Sara did, not that he'd ever tell her that. He already had Sara testing him, he didn't need the same thing from Sara. Especially since Milo's older sister was already asking him about some theories she had about the show. Sara asked if he and Cavendish were secretly brothers (they weren't), if Time Ape was actually a computer, like he was (Dakota seriously doubted it). Dakota tolerated the questions, but he and Milo both drew the line when Sara had asked if Time Ape had also tried to destroy the world and was secretly a villain. Dakota knew that Sara was just getting excited about her show, but he didn't need to hear it.

Zack was the most tolerable, but that was because he seemed to avoid Dakota completely. Zack reacted like most people would upon learning that someone that they'd met a few days ago was ago a supercomputer from the future that had almost destroyed the world, with caution. Zack didn't seem straight up afraid of him, and he hadn't tried to convince Milo that he was a danger to everybody around them, so he was reacting better than Cavendish had. Dakota thought there was a good chance that Zack would eventually relax around him, he just needed a little bit of time. Dakota hooped that it was sooner rather than later, because he was getting tired of Ash's friend walking on eggshells around him.

All in all, living with Milo was going a lot better than Dakota had hoped for. Milo was great, his friends, while overbearing, were at least interesting. And Milo's parents were very welcoming and understanding, even though they knew absolutely nothing about him. It was really nice.

What  _wasn't_ so nice though was that Dakota was constantly around Murphy's Law. He would never talk about this with Milo, because the kid already blamed himself way too much for something he really couldn't help, but Dakota was really getting stressed about Murphy's Law.

Dakota had been programmed to predict any eventuality, and come up with the best possible solution. While not impossible, it was definitely really hard to predict what could happen when Murphy's Law, by nature, was unpredictable. Dakota could find a lot of information that explained Murphy's law, how it was caused by a high amount of negative probability ions, and Dakota could find thousands of reports about Murphy's Law related incidents all throughout time. He wasn't lacking information, but there was an unnervingly small amount of solutions for Murphy's Law.

Dakota wasn't exactly trying to cure Milo of Murphy's Law, he knew it wasn't possible, but he wanted to help the kid fight it. Milo was doing so much for Dakota, the least he could do was help him take on Murphy's Law. Dakota tried, he really did, but he wasn't very much help, or at least it seemed like Milo didn't think he was.

Dakota didn't know what he was doing wrong. Whenever Murphy's Law hit, Dakota was surprised for 0.0072 seconds, and then he was able to think of a way to overcome the problem, which only took 0.0528 seconds, bringing his overall reaction time to 0.06 seconds, which was miles above what humans could handle in a crisis. Dakota's solutions weren't perfect, but they'd end up with minimal damage for Milo, if only the boy would  _listen to him._

Dakota leaned against the hospital wall, seething quietly and glaring at the waiting room wall. Milo was currently in surgery after a Murphy's Law incident gone horribly wrong. It was a freak accident, and people were still trying to figure out what had gone wrong (per Murphy's Law, old screws that really should have been replaced four months ago, had come loose, causing all kinds of trouble. The authorities wouldn't find the issue for a few more hours, at least).

"Dakota, are you okay?" He blinked and pushed his sunglasses into place as he felt Brigette touch his arm gently.

"I'm fine," Dakota said stiffly. He tried to control his emotions, as he was sure that his eyes were sparking. Hopefully his sunglasses were hiding his eyes enough to not be noticed.

"I know you're worried about Milo," Brigette said. "But this kind of thing happens all the time, the doctors here will take good care of him. He'll be up and running before you know it." Dakota knew all this, he knew that Milo would ultimately be fine, but that wasn't the point. The point was that none of this should have happened in the first place, and it wouldn't have if Milo had just done what Dakota had said in the first place.

Dakota had seen what the problem was and the potential danger that it could put Milo in way before things escalated to that point. Murphy's Law may follow Milo everywhere he went, but the bridge had been way too dangerous at that point. If Milo had just run and gone somewhere else like Dakota had told him to.

But no, Milo hadn't even considered Dakota's idea, not for one second. Instead he did what he always did, he tried to solve the problem instead of saving himself. The thing is, Milo couldn't use anything from his backpack to properly reinforce the bridge, or stabilize the beams. Milo was a smart kid, he should have known that, but that apparently wasn't enough to keep him from trying.

Dakota had alerted Milo as soon as he'd seen the problem, before any obvious signs of damage or danger could come up. In doing so he was hoping that Milo would have gotten off the bridge as fast as he could, but instead Milo had stayed behind and taken the time to make sure that everybody else was safe first.

Dakota had been annoyed, but when Milo had his mind set on something, he was hard to talk out of it. The most that Dakota could do was keep an eye out for escalating trouble.

Things had been going okay, at least, as well as it could be considering the bridge could either collapse or fall down on top of everybody any minute now. Most of the civilians had gotten away, and as far as Dakota could tell there was just Milo and a single woman who was still in her car, too scared to move.

Dakota knew that in times of distress, fight, flight, or freeze could kick in. Most people on the bridge had ran, flight, but this woman almost seemed in shock, freeze. It would take time for Milo to get her to move...time that they didn't have.

Dakota had been worried about Milo. He didn't want him to get hurt, so he'd done the only thing that he could think of. Dakota's eyes sparked as his programming got to work. He grabbed onto Milo's nervous system, and he took control. Milo wasn't going to leave on his own.

Dakota hadn't wanted to take control of Milo, they were supposed to be partners, friends. Normal Squips controlled their hosts, because they didn't actually care about their feelings. Dakota didn't want to end up like that, but he didn't have a choice. He wouldn't let Milo get hurt.

Dakota had tried make Milo get off the bridge, but it was hard. Milo's will was strong, and Dakota didn't truly want to do it. The end result was that Milo froze in front of the car, half of him trying to help the woman, half of him trying to get back. The struggle couldn't have lasted more than fifteen seconds, but that was fifteen seconds too long.

One of the beams just above the car creaked and threatened to fall. If Milo stayed where he was, he definitely wouldn't get away, so Dakota let go of his grip. Milo reacted immediately, opening the car door and grabbed the woman, pulling her out of the car. They were able to get out out just as the beam fell and crushed the car. Milo and the woman weren't killed, thank goodness for that, but neither of them walked away from it unscathed. Dakota didn't know what condition the woman was in, but Milo, he had a concussion, a lot of scrapes and bruises, but the biggest problem was that some shrapnel had ended up in his leg, which was what the surgery was for.

Nothing life threatening, and Dakota knew that Milo would recover rather quickly, but it was still concerning. None of this should have happened.

Brigette stayed close to Dakota, chatting idly to him. She had to know that he was only half paying attention, but she wasn't really there for conversation. She was there to provide support for him, distract him. She possibly thought that because of the past she thought he'd had, that he was anxious either about being in a hospital, even as a visitor, or that someone he cared about was hurt.

Dakota wasn't worried about Milo, he was  _mad_ at him.

Dakota could have prevented any of this from happening. He had  _tried_  to stop it, but Milo was resisting him, and he didn't know why. All Dakota had tried to do was protect the kid. Could Milo really not tell that much?

"Brigette," A doctor came out and approached Milo's mom, though she paused to put her hand on Zack's shoulder. She was familiar with the boy, possibly his mother.

"Eileen," Brigette put a hand on Dakota's arm, squeezing it reassuringly. "Is Milo okay?"

"He'll be just fine," The doctor, Eileen, said calmly. "He's already awake and is waiting in your room.

Brigette smiled. "That's good." She turned to Melissa and Zack, who had been waiting patiently with them, like this was just a regular Saturday afternoon for them (it was). "Can you kids stay here with Milo? I was supposed to pick up Sara an hour ago."

"We'll make sure he's okay, Mrs. Murphy," Melissa said.

Brigette patted Dakota's arm. "You're welcome to stay too, if you want," Yeah, there was no chance that he was leaving. Brigette turned back to the kids. "Martin should be here in about twenty minutes, as soon as his shift is over. I'll be back as soon as I get Sara." Most people refused to leave their child's side when they were in the hospital, but this was such a regular occurrence for the Murphy's that they had it down pat. They made sure it was nothing too bad, and then life just moved on as normal.

As Brigette left, Zack turned to his mother. "Can we go Milo now?"

"Of course," Eileen lead the three of them down the halls of the hospital, to a door marked the Murphy Suite...cute. "You know the drill, he won't be very aware, and I don't want you to agitate his leg, but he should be fine." Eileen opened the door and let them all in.

Milo looked excited to see his friends, but when his gaze landed on Dakota his gaze darkened ever so slightly. Dakota was mad, and it seemed like Milo was too.

"Hey, Milo," Melissa said casually, completely oblivious to the tension in the room. "You think this is going to give you another scar?"

"Probably," Milo said, and he sounded sincerely excited, though it was somewhat strained. "Uh, guys, can I talk to Dakota for a second?"

Zack looked at Dakota and looked taken aback. He had to have noticed the sparking in his eyes. "Uh," Zack looked at the door to check to see if his mom was still there, she wasn't. "Can't you two talk telepathically or something?"

"We can," Dakota admitted. "But I'd rather do things the old fashioned way." Milo nodded in agreement. Melissa and Zack both looked confused, but with a pleading look from Milo they reluctantly left the room, closing the door behind them. Once they were alone, Milo's grin slipped. He looked extremely vulnerable.

"Can you take the glasses off?" Milo asked.

Dakota grimaced, but did as Milo asked. His eyes were sparking like crazy, because of how high strung he was at the moment, but also because of the lingering anesthesia in Milo's systems. If something affected Milo's mind, it messed with his systems. Dakota was just glad that it wasn't as obvious as when his host got drunk, because that probably would have brought some questions.

"Dakota," Milo was frowning now. He didn't look all that mad, but he was definitely disappointed, which was possibly even worse. "Did you keep my body from moving?"

Dakota sighed and pulled up a chair. "I couldn't think of what else to do. You were putting yourself in danger. You refused to leave the bridge," Dakota's expression darkened. "And you wouldn't trust me when I tried to tell you to leave,"

"Wait, hang on," Milo looked confused now, and a little hurt. "Dakota, of course I trust you. Wha-what did I do to make you think I didn't?"

Dakota looked Milo in the eyes. Even though his eyes were sparking, Milo didn't even flinch. He maintained eye contact. "I've been trying to keep you from getting hurt. Whenever Murphy's Law happens, I can think of a solution in a moment, and I put the idea in your head of what you can do, and...you always ignore it. You don't listen to what I have to say,"

Milo shifted uncomfortably, and then flinched when he moved his leg in a way he shouldn't have. Milo was stiff for a moment before he relaxed. "That...it's not because I don't trust you. I know you care about keeping me safe, but your plans...they'd keep  _me_ safe, but what about everybody else?"

Dakota blinked. "I...what?"

Milo gave him a gentle smile. "I can't just leave people to fend for themselves, I have to do whatever I can to help them,"

"I know, but when things are going wrong and you're in danger-" Dakota tried to say.

"Then other people are in danger too," Milo cut in. There was a familiar expression on his face, a lot like the one that Dakota had seen when Milo had talked to him about what was wrong with what he had done about the whole pistachion disaster. "I know you have a hard time with this stuff, but just because you know me, and just because you're my Squip now, that doesn't make my safety any more important than anyone else's."

Dakota frowned. Milo was right, he had a hard time understanding this stuff. He didn't know all these other people. He knew Milo, and he cared about him. He didn't want the kid to get hurt, even if that meant putting someone else's safety on the line in his place.

Milo seemed to tell exactly what Dakota was thinking, and he didn't seem happy with it, though he also didn't seem surprised. "Dakota, I appreciate your concern, really I do, but  _I'm_ concerned about other people."

Dakota considered this. "I guess...I can't promise that I'll care about others as much as you, but if it's what you want, I'll take it into consideration in the future."

Milo's expression brightened. "You'd do that?"

Dakota shrugged. "Yeah, sure, I mean, if you want,"

Milo's excited grin fell slightly. "But...what do  _you_ want?"

Dakota grimaced. Why did Milo have to get into this habit of asking that specific question when he knew that Dakota's desires were a lot different from his own? "I don't want you to get hurt," But it was obvious to anyone that Milo put the safety of others above his own, which Dakota admired him for, but it was frustrating to deal with.

Milo looked disappointed, not in Dakota, but in the circumstances. Milo was passionate about Dakota being his own person, living or more than just the happiness of his host, but Milo was also passionate about helping others. He seemed really upset that two things he cared so much about were at conflict with each other.

Dakota didn't like to see Milo so upset. "The thing is, I guess that includes emotional hurt, so if it really upsets you to see others in danger...yeah, I can help you with that."

"Even if it may put me in danger?" Milo raised an eyebrow at Dakota, who winced.

"...We'll see," Dakota said. He couldn't make any such promises, but he could try, or at least keep in mind what Milo wanted. "I'll tell you one thing though, I won't try to control you again. I  _hate_ doing that. Makes me feel like a heartless monster."

Milo gave him a sympathetic smile. "I'm not mad at you, by the way. I know you were just trying to help." And Dakota could feel the kid's sincerity. It made it hard to stay mad at him.

"You're too good for me, Milo," Dakota said quietly, almost inaudibly, but by the way that Milo's eyes filled with sadness, the kid had heard him. "I'll try to do better, okay?"

"You  _are_ doing better," Milo insisted. "But I'll try to do better too," Dakota didn't know what Milo was talking about. The kid was great. How much better could he be doing? But Dakota didn't say anything. His friends were wanting to see him, and his family would be here soon. This wasn't the time.

However, Dakota had more thing to say before their privacy disappeared. "If this whole partnership, or, I guess, friendship thing is going to work, we should probably make sure we're on the same page," Dakota didn't want to be worried that Milo didn't trust him because of an issue that was easily resolved.

Milo nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we probably should," Milo didn't look worried though, and neither was Dakota. There were a couple of things that they still had to work on, basic guidelines that they both needed to lay out. Dakota suspected this wouldn't be the first time that they would disagree about matters that they cared a lot about, but that was to be expected. Just because Dakota was downloaded into Milo's brain didn't mean that he agreed with the boy about everything. Chances were, they were going to argue again in the future, and it might be a lot worse than this discussion was, but Dakota tried not to worry about it. He was willing to make a few changes to make this work out, and it was clear that Milo was more than happy to do the same.

They both cared too much about each other to not figure things out.


End file.
